UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State women’s tennis team (10-4, 2-1) continued its stay in this week’s ITA Poll, released Tuesday (March 27). The Nittany Lions came in at No. 46 for the second week in a row and third time this season. Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) also continued her season-long stay in the singles poll, earning a No. 61 ranking. Penn State is coming off a convincing victory over then No. 27 Purdue on Sunday.
This marks the seventh straight week Penn State has earned a ranking in the Top 75. Prior to this season, the Nittany Lions had not broken into the poll since 2008, when they came in at No. 75 during the week of Feb. 22, 2008. The Nittany Lions have defeated four ranked opponents this season: then No. 57 Ohio State, No. 40 VCU, No. 65 Marshall and No. 27 Purdue. In previous weeks Penn State has held rankings of No. 59, No. 61, No. 53 and No. 54.
Including the Nittany Lions, eight of the 12 schools in the highly competitive Big Ten were also ranked. Penn State joins seven other Big Ten schools in the poll, including No. 14 Michigan, No. 15 Northwestern, No. 18 Nebraska, No. 21 Illinois, No. 32 Minnesota, No. 33 Purdue and No. 41 Indiana. Currently, the Nittany Lions are in a seven-way tie for second in the Big Ten standings. In total, 12 of Penn State’s 22 opponents this season were ranked in this week’s poll.
In addition to Penn State’s team success, Januskova has been dominant in No. 1 singles play this season. The junior has compiled a 13-1 record this spring. Januskova has beaten two ranked opponents (then No. 14 Diana Nakic of No. 6 Baylor and No. 111 Kim Berghaus of UMBC) and five opponents from ranked teams. In the thirteen matches she has won this season, she has only lost one set the entire year. During the week of Jan. 10, Januskova was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week, becoming just the third Nittany Lion in program history to earn that honor.
Next up, Penn State will hit the road for the first time in over a month and a half, when it travels to Iowa on Friday, March 30 at 5 p.m. and Nebraska on Sunday, April 1 at 11 a.m. The Nittany Lions will return home the following weekend when they host Minnesota on Friday, April 6 at 5 p.m. and Wisconsin on Sunday, April 8 at 11 a.m.