UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State women’s tennis team (7-3, 1-0) leaped 14 spots to No. 47 in the most recent ITA Poll, released Feb. 28. In last week’s ranking the Nittany Lions came in at No. 61. This marks the third straight week Penn State has been ranked. 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. This season, Penn State has defeated three ranked opponents, then No. 57 Ohio State, No. 40 VCU and No. 65 Marshall. In addition to Penn State’s team ranking, Petra Januskova(Ottawa, Canada) earned a No. 50 ranking in the singles poll.
Nine of the 12 schools in the highly competitive Big Ten were ranked in this week’s Top 75. Penn State joins eight other Big Ten schools in the poll, including No. 8 Northwestern, No. 14 Michigan, No. 30 Minnesota, No. 34 Nebraska, No. 38 Illinois, No. 44 Purdue, No. 60 Wisconsin and No. 65 Indiana. 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, Petra Januskovahas been dominant in No. 1 singles play this season. The junior has compiled an undefeated 10-0 record this spring. In addition to beating two ranked opponents (then No. 14 Diana Nakic of No. 6 Baylor and No. 111 Kim Berghaus of UMBC), 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.
The Nittany Lions are coming off two close victories this weekend. Penn State bested No. 65 Marshall, 5-2, on Friday and outlasted Miami (OH), 4-3, on Sunday. The Nittany Lions have been stellar at home this season, compiling a 6-1 record, and have won seven of their last eight matches.
Penn State will have a break in match play for two weeks. The Nittany Lions will restart dual match action on Wednesday, March 14, when they host Temple at 4:30 p.m, followed by a match against Eastern Michigan on Saturday, March 17 at noon.
