Women’s Tennis Travels to Georgia Tech and Charlotte

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women’s tennis continues a two-week road stretch with matches against Georgia Tech and Charlotte. The Blue & White sit at No. 43 in the latest ITA rankings, up four spots from a week ago. 

The Nittany Lions (10-4, 1-4 Big Ten) will face the Yellow Jackets (7-8, 3-3 ACC) at noon on Sunday at Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta. The team will then head to Charlotte to play the 49ers (14-3, 3-0 American) on Monday at noon at Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex. 

As a team, Penn State is 23-10 in dual matches. The Nittany Lions are 10-0 this season when they win the doubles point, with the tandem of Olivia Dorner and Maelie Monfils leading the way with a 4-3 record on court one. Patricia Grigoras and Maiko Uchijima are 5-3 while Brianna Baldi and Maria Daciana Ciubotaru hold a 4-4 mark. 

The Blue & White are 44-23 in singles this spring. Of the six most common singles competitors, four own winning records: Baldi (5-2), Ciubotaru (6-2), Dorner (6-1) and Grigoras (7-5).

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

• Penn State dropped road contests against No. 12 USC and No. 8 UCLA. Both matches were decided by 4-0 margins. 

• The tandem of Patricia Grigoras and Maiko Uchijima did not have either of their doubles matches finish on court two, but they held a 5-4 lead over USC’s Dani Borruel and Eugenia Zozaya and were in a tiebreaker game with UCLA’s Ahmani Guichard and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer.  

• Maria Daciana Ciubotaru split the first two sets of an unfinished match on court six against the Trojans. Grigoras and Olivia Dorner won the first sets of their matches against UCLA before they went unfinished.   

ACROSS THE NET 

GEORGIA TECH 

• Georgia Tech is ranked No. 59 in the latest ITA poll. The Yellow Jackets enter the Sunday’s contest with a 7-8 (3-3 ACC). GT dropped a 4-3 result on the road against Charlotte on Friday. 

• In ACC competition, the Yellow Jackets have swept Louisville, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech with losses against No. 18 Stanford, No. 12 California and No. 21 Virginia. Georgia Tech defeated Big Ten foe Rutgers by a 6-1 margin earlier in the season. 

• No. 77 Seri Nayuki and Alejandra Cruz are a ranked doubles pair for the Yellow Jackets. The pairing is 5-6 on court one this season. 

• Cruz is ranked No. 66 on the singles side. She holds a 8-4 record at the top spot with one ranked win to her name. 

CHARLOTTE 

• Charlotte is No. 34 in the ITA rankings. The 49ers are 14-3 (3-0 American), coming off a doubleheader against Georgia Tech and UConn on Friday. The team swept both matches. Charlotte beat the Yellow Jackets, 4-3, before downing the Huskies, 4-0. 

• The 49ers have two wins over Power 4 programs with victories over Wake Forest and Maryland. They also defeated Columbia out of the Ivy League during ITA Kickoff Weekend, an event Penn State could not attend due to winter weather. The team’s three losses have been against Clemson, No. 3 North Carolina and No. 23 South Carolina. 

• Charlotte has a ranked doubles pair in No. 21 Sara Suchankova and Ni Xi. The tandem is 14-8 overall, 8-4 in dual matches on court one, this season.  

• Xi plays on court one for singles with a record of 5-5 this spring. 

SERIES HISTORY 

GEORGIA TECH 

• Sunday’s match will be the first between Penn State and Georgia Tech. 

CHARLOTTE 

• Penn State and Charlotte have played just once. The matchup came during the 2023 season in Charlotte. 

• The Nittany Lions fell to the 49ers in a 4-3 decision. Dorner, a freshman at the time, picked up a singles win on court five during the match.