Netwomen fall to Gophers, Hawkeyes

Penn State women's tennis coach Sue Whiteside was pleased with her team's doubles play. She liked the Lady Lions' ability to bounce back after a loss. She said several of her players are making definite breakthroughs in their play.

All that said, the Lions still were steamrolled by two solid Big Ten opponents in their spring home opener this weekend.

No. 62 Iowa crushed Penn State (2-9, 0-4 Big Ten) 6-1 on Saturday, then No. 38 Minnesota picked the Lions apart 5-2 yesterday.

Looking past the losses, Whiteside said she was impressed with her players' ability to keep their heads up in the face of defeat, but they still need some lessons in competition.

"They still need to learn the difference between hitting well and competing well," Whiteside said. "You're not always going to feel like you're playing your best, you just need to learn to play scrappy tennis."

Against Iowa (7-6, 2-2), Penn State's No. 1 doubles team of Pilar Montgomery and Alison Barnett, who are ranked No. 25 in the nation, came away with the team's only doubles win. The tandem stood strong in its 9-7 win.

Iowa's No. 2 doubles team destroyed the Lions 8-2, and with its No. 3 doubles team's 8-6 win, the Hawkeyes came away with the point in doubles.

In singles action, the Hawkeyes dominated the court, taking five points and the Lions' hopes of victory in the match. This came despite the solid efforts of Montgomery.

The Lions' only point came in a thrilling three-set win (4-6, 7-5, 6-2) by Barnett, the No. 2 seed on the team. Although Barnett's win was not crucial to the match, Whiteside said it showed the Lions' determination right down to the wire.

"Sometimes its difficult to keep going when the outcome of the team match has already been determined," Barnett said. "It's good though because it gives me more experience."

The Lions needed to use all of their combined experience to come back after the loss and face Minnesota (8-5, 4-0).

All three doubles teams for Penn State came away with wins. These matches were a complete turnaround from the weak doubles play against Iowa.

The No. 1 team of Montgomery and Barnett came away with a solid 8-6 win. Kelley Margolis and Kim Luff, Penn State's No. 2 team, stunned the Golden Gophers with a 9-7 win. Also, the No. 3 team of Teresa Whiteside (no relation) and Kate Ovelman sliced their way to a 9-8 victory.

These convincing wins earned Penn State the doubles point. Coach Whiteside said she was very impressed with her team's turnaround in doubles play.

"Our doubles teams really clicked today," Whiteside said. "Our intensity was better and our focus was better. We made today a whole new day for us."

These two losses drop the Lions to 2-9 on the season with a 0-4 record in the Big Ten. But Barnett said Penn State is not discouraged. Instead, the team believes with the experience it gained over the weekend, the future looks bright.