The Penn State women's tennis team split a weekend road series at Illinois and No. 46 Purdue.

The Nittany Lions (8-10, 2-5 Big 10)defeated the Illini 4-3, and lost to the Boilermakers 4-3 in a weekend of two very close matches.

Penn State senior Sasha Abraham had a spectacular weekend, defeating Momei Qu of Illinois 6-3, 6-2. Against Purdue, Abraham defeated Brooke Beier 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Abraham also contributed to two double match victories with her partner, junior Jenny Shular. The pair defeated Illinois pair Shivani Dave and Alejandra MezaCuadra 8-1. Abraham and Shular defeated Purdue pair Neela Vaez and Cigdem Duru 8-5.

Despite Abraham and Shular's doubles effort, Penn State still lost the double point in both matches.

Penn State senior Andreea Niculescu and sophomore Lauren Holzberg lost to Illini pair Megan Fudge and Wang 8-6. Freshman Lauren McCarthy and sophomore Dorothy Dohanics were defeated by Kristina Minor and Qu 9-7 in the other doubles match against Illinois.

In doubles play against Purdue, Niculescu and Holzberg were defeated by Mallory Voelker and Beier 8-2. Dohanics and freshman Sarah Lotto lost to Anna Dzeva and Alejandra Boeker 8-3.

Young Lion freshman McCarthy continued her hot streak, defeating Wang of Illinois 6-4, 7-5 and Boeker of Purdue 6-2, 6-3.

The Nittany Lions come back to State College this Saturday for their home finale against Michigan State at 11 a.m. at the Sarni Tennis Center.