Penn State upends Hoosiers

When Penn State and IU met April 15, the Nittany Lions edged the Hoosiers 4-3. \nFriday in the Big Ten women's tennis tournament, it was more of the same. Only this time, Penn State advanced with a 4-2 triumph. \nThe Lions ended IU's tournament run after one match with Friday's quarterfinal round victory in Columbus, Ohio.\nIU began the afternoon looking good after claiming the doubles point for the 12th consecutive match. At No. 2 doubles, junior Karie Schlukebir and freshman Linda Tran defeated Judy Wang and Janelle Perez 8-4. The Hoosiers were also successful at the No. 3 position with senior Jennifer Hsia and junior Amanda Field. Hsia and Field topped Teresa Whiteside and Leigh Ann Merryman 8-4. \nBut any momentum IU (16-9, 7-4 Big Ten) picked up with the doubles point dissipated in singles play. Penn State won three three-set matches and a straight-set contest to down the Hoosiers. \n"This was a good college tennis match today with a lot of drama and momentum swings," coach Lin Loring said. "Penn State beat us in the same spots they beat us at three weeks ago when we played them in the regular season. They pulled off three three-set victories, which was the difference in the match." \nSenior Kelly Blanch fell 6-2, 6-4 to Penn State's Pilar Montogomery at the No. 1 spot. Schlukebir picked up the slack for the Hoosiers at the No. 5 position with a 6-2, 7-5 victory against Kristen Nowicki. \nSophomore J.J. Levin fell to Perez 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot, and Penn State gained the 3-2 advantage as Merryman topped freshman Martina Grimm 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 at the No. 6 spot. \nWith two singles matches remaining, Rebecca Ho clinched the win for the Nittany Lions with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win against Field at the No. 2 position. \n"We did improve in the matches that we lost and hopefully we are still in good shape for NCAAs," Loring said. \nThe NCAA tournament field will be announced Wednesday.