The sun was shining yesterday -- not just on State College but also on the Penn State women's tennis team's fortunes.
The Nittany Lions (6-8, 1-5 Big Ten) picked up their first conference victory in more than two years by beating Ohio State, 4-3, at Sarni Tennis Center.
Penn State's last conference victory came on March 28, 2003, against Indiana.
The Lions dropped the doubles point, a trend in many matches this year, but came back to win four of six singles matches to earn the win.
Penn State coach Buffy Baker felt that the loss of the doubles point was simply the result of the team not being able to cope with the pressure, forcing players to make too many unforced errors.
"We played horrible doubles to be quite honest," she said. "We played like we had a monkey on our shoulders. They were just putting so much pressure on themselves. It's a crucial point and I think they felt that."
Once again, the team found itself in difficult doubles matches that tested its mental strength. At No. 1, Maaria Husain and Sarah Spence got down a couple of breaks to start the match that put it out of reach, finally losing 8-3. The Lions evened up the doubles play with a strong performance from its No. 2 team of Sasha Abraham and Jenny Schular. The duo emerged with a comfortable 8-4 win in which they overpowered the Buckeyes.
The doubles point came down to the match at third doubles. The Lions' Jess McKeown and Andreea Niculescu got up early in the match and raced to a 5-2 lead. At this point, the wheels came off for the No. 3 team. The Buckeyes took over the match and ended up winning the final six games and the match.
As in so many matches this season, the Lions dug deep and found a way to come back in singles. The team started off singles on a roll, as Niculescu used the frustration from her doubles loss to motivate her towards an easy 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 4.
The Lions' bottom half of the ladder continued to excel against the Buckeyes, as both No. 5 Katelyn BeVard and No. 6 Schular won in straight sets. BeVard's win was her first since the Lions' March 18 sweep of Lehigh.
The deciding win came at the hands of No. 1 singles player Husain. She was slow in finding her rhythm against the Buckeyes' Emily DeCamilla, who won the first set, 6-2.
Husain began to find her game when DeCamilla became flustered after a series of questionable line calls that caused her to lose focus. Husain took advantage and raced through the final two sets, 6-2, 6-3, to clinch the Lions' victory.
"It wasn't the game that I necessarily wanted to play out there, but I did what I needed to get the job done," Husain said. "She gave me some errors, she got a little rattled, so I got back into the game a little bit because of that."
The win was all the more sweeter for the team because it came against the Buckeyes, a longtime rival. It was the first win against OSU for the team's current members and source of revenge after Ohio State defeated the Lions in last season's Big Ten tournament.
With the win, the Lions got the elusive conference win they hope will provide the momentum for a successful second half of the season.
"Ohio State's one of our biggest rivals and we've had battles with them over the years," Husain said. "I'm real excited. I think this is a huge confidence booster, and we're just going to go up from here."
