Netwomen drop two at home

By CHRIS SORLEY
Collegian Staff Writer

This past weekend was a tough one for the Penn State women's tennis team as it dropped a heartbreaker to Michigan State Saturday and another close one to Michigan Sunday, both at the Penn State Tennis Center.

Saturday's match started on a positive note, as the Lady Lions (1-4, 0-2 Big Ten) won all three of their doubles matches against the Lady Spartans. After singles wins by Jan Perez over Nikki Skogerboe (6-3, 6-2) and Martina Kopacova over Isabell Oelze (7-5,6-3), it appeared the Lions had things firmly wrapped up with a 3-0 lead in the match.

However, as No. 1 singles player Rebecca Ho started a comeback in the third set against the Spartans' Brooke West, Ho's left foot cramped up and she was forced to finish the final set in pain. Ho ended up losing, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

"It was just bad timing," Ho said.

Bad timing to say the least, as the momentum seemed to shift Michigan State's way after Ho's match. The win at No. 1 singles brought the Spartans back to within 3-2, and it soon became 3-3 as Teresa Whiteside struggled through a straight-set loss to Kelli Hayes. Spartan Jaime Tannenbaum went on to dominate Kate Ovelman in the rubber match to give the Spartans the win and improbable comeback from down 3-0.

The Lions didn't fare much better Sunday afternoon, although there were signs of improvement. While the Lions went 1-2 in doubles to lose the point, Ho and Kopacova nearly came back against Brooke Hart and Danielle Lund, the No. 32 doubles team in the country.

Penn State returned strong in its singles matches, however, and showed a spark despite the Lady Wolverines' 2-1 lead. Then Ho pulled off a big win over Hart (6-4, 1-6, 6-2) and Whiteside dominated Alison Sinclair to win in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, putting the Lions on top 3-2.

Losses by Kopacova and Ovelman buried the Lions, though, as they fell 4-3 for the second day in a row.

"It's always tough to lose 4-3," assistant coach Chad Skorupka said. "But if we give 100-percent effort both mentally and physically we should be solid in the Big Ten."

Penn State takes on Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center before heading to Newport Beach, Ca., Saturday to take on UC-Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania and Loyola Marymount.