Women’s Tennis Heads to the West Coast to Face No. 12 USC and No. 8 UCLA

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women’s tennis team makes its first trip to the West Coast for Big Ten action this weekend with matchups against No. 12 USC and No. 8 UCLA. 

The Nittany Lions (10-2, 1-2 Big Ten) will face the Trojans (9-4, 2-0 Big Ten) at 3 p.m. on Saturday before ending the trip against the Bruins (7-3, 1-1 Big Ten) on Sunday at 3 p.m. The USC match will be at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium while the UCLA dual will be played at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. 

The Blue & White sit at No. 47 in the latest ITA rankings. The tandem of Olivia Dorner and Maelie Monfils are ranked as the No. 75 doubles team in the country. The duo is 4-1 during the spring. 

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

• Penn State split matches against Michigan State and Michigan this past weekend. The Nittany Lions defeated the Spartans, 4-2, before falling to the Wolverines by a 4-0 margin. 

• Dorner won the 100th match of her Penn State career in the triumph against Michigan State. She defeated Nina Plihal, 6-4, 6-0, on court four.  

• Brianna Baldi and Maria Daciana Ciubotaru went 2-0 as a doubles tandem, including their first ranked victory as a pair over Michigan’s No.68 Piper Charney and Emily Sartz-Lunde.  

• Ciubotaru clinched the dual win over Michigan State with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Oriana Parkins-Godwin on court five. 

• Patricia Grigoras earned two wins in the victory over the Spartans. In doubles, she paired with Maiko Uchijima to clinch the doubles point on court two. The duo picked up a 6-2 win. The sophomore secured a singles victory on court three over Matilde Morais, 6-3, 6-3.  

ACROSS THE NET 

USC 

• USC enters the weekend as the No. 12 team in the country with a 9-4, 2-0 Big Ten record. The Trojans are coming off a road sweep over Minnesota and Wisconsin. Both matches were won by 4-1 margins.  

• Southern California has one top 25 win as the team defeated No. 11 Stanford, now unranked, at the end of January. All four of USC’s losses have been against current top 25 opponents: No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 8 UCLA, No. 15 California and No. 21 Virginia. 

• The Trojans have two ranked doubles pairs in No. 15 Daniela Borruel and Lily Fairclough and No. 32 Jana Hossam Salah and Fairclough. Borruel and Fairclough opened the season playing together on court one and own a 3-2 record in the spring. Hossam Salah and Fairclough took over the top spot in February and hold a 3-1 mark. Fairclough played with Krisha Mahendran against Minnesota and Wisconsin, splitting matches on court one. 

• USC has three ranked singles competitors: No. 38 Hossam Salah, No. 39 Emma Charney and No. 98 Eugenia Zozaya Menendez. Hossam Salah is 3-7 in the spring, mainly on court one. Charney is 4-5 on multiple courts with her most recent appearance on court four. Zozaya Menendez boasts an 11-1 record across courts two through five. 

UCLA 

• UCLA is the No. 8 team in the country according to ITA. The Bruins will take a 7-3, 1-1 Big Ten record into the weekend. They will play No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday before matching up with Penn State on Sunday. 

• UCLA split its weekend against Wisconsin and Minnesota with the team falling to Wisconsin, 4-3, before beating the Golden Gophers, 4-1. 

• The Bruins have three wins over current top 25 teams in nonconference play: No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 12 USC and No. 20 UCF. The other two losses have been to ranked opponents as well as they dropped contests to No. 7 LSU and No. 15 California. 

• No. 31 Olivia Center and Kate Fakih is the only ranked doubles pair. They hold a 6-2 record on court one. 

• UCLA has three ranked singles players: No. 40 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, No. 54 Mayu Crossley and No. 108 Bianca Fernandez. Lutkemeyer is 5-1 on court one with four wins in a row. Crossley is 7-3 this spring with all but one match on court two. Fernandez is 7-1, mainly on court four. Penn State’s Grigoras defeated her, 6-2, 6-4, at ITA All Americans in the fall. 

SERIES HISTORY 

USC 

• Saturday will be the second meeting between Penn State and USC and the first in Los Angeles. 

• The Nittany Lions earned a historic victory over the Trojans in Happy Valley a season ago, 4-3. The win over No. 14 USC was the highest-ranked win in at least 20 years for the Blue & White. 

• In the triumph, PSU took the doubles point before singles wins from Dorner, Grigoras and Ciubotaru. Dorner earned a ranked win over No. 46 Grace Piper in the victory while Ciubotaru clinched the contest. 

UCLA 

• Penn State and UCLA met for the first time last season. 

• The Bruins picked up a 4-0 victory at Sarni Tennis Center.