The women’s tennis team fell 6-1 at #49 Penn State on Saturday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions (3-0, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) simply overpowered the Owls (1-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10 Conference). Junior Jordan Batey was unable to play in this match due to chest congestion.
“We just need to get healthy,” coach Steve Mauro said. “I think that will solve a lot of problems.”
The only Temple player to win a set was junior co-captain Alicia Doms, who defeated junior Carmen Sandor 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 in the fourth flight.
“Sandor was a good player,” Mauro said. “Alicia just outlasted her, and in the tiebreak she came up with some great shots.”
Junior co-captain Yana Mavrina fell to senior Petra Januskova 6-2, 6-2 in the first flight. Mavrina had the toughest matchup of the day, as Januskova is ranked 27th in singles play in the NCAA.
“Yana still just needs time to get back into the swing of things,” Mauro said. “I know she’s capable of playing better than she did today.”
In the second flight, sophomore Ama Osei fell 6-0, 6-0 to junior Chelsea Utting. In the third flight, junior Carly Bohman lost to freshman Devan McCluskey 6-2, 6-0. Sophomore Rebecca Breland was defeated 6-4, 7-5 by freshman Jacqueline Zuhse in the fifth flight. Freshman Minami Okajima fell to freshman Katherine Whiteaway 6-3, 6-0 in the sixth flight.
In the doubles first flight, Bohman and Okajima fell 8-1 to Januskova and Utting. In the second flight, Doms and Mavrina lost to Zuhse and Whiteaway 8-4. According to Mauro, the loss of Batey made doubles very difficult.
“It really hurt our lineup, because we had to switch all of our doubles combinations around,” Mauro said.
Breland and Osei were winning their doubles match 7-6 when it was halted. they were playing Sandor and senior Sarah Henderson.
“They were playing pretty well,” Mauro said. “It was a good match.”
The Owls next play on Wednesday, January 30th at 5 p.m. at #71 Princeton.
Evan Cross can be reached at evan.cross@temple.edu or on Twitter @EvanCross.
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