Tennis: Panthers look to gain momentum heading into postseason

The Pitt women’s tennis team is at its tipping point. After a 3-4 start to the season, the… The Pitt women’s tennis team is at its tipping point. After a 3-4 start to the season, the Panthers posted another 3-4 stretch in their recent matches and are looking to turn the season around.

At 6-8 overall and with only six matches remaining on the schedule before Pitt heads to South Bend, Ind., for the Big East tournament, the Panthers want to finish the season strong and enter the postseason with momentum on their side.

With five consecutive winning seasons behind it, the 2010-11 squad wants to continue that streak, and also to place high in the Big East. No Pitt team has finished higher than 7th in the Big East in the 30 years that Pitt has been a part of the conference.

Over spring break, the players got a chance to escape the cold and dreary Pittsburgh weather and travel to warm and sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for a pair of matches.

The first match resulted in a tough loss for Pitt by a score of 5-4 to No. 22 Nova Southeastern University. Freshmen Jocelyn Lu and Kimmy Borza were the only two players to pull out singles wins, whereas the doubles teams took two out of three matches to pull close.

But the Panthers could not get one more victory to push them over the edge and into the win column.

The next day, Pitt took on the University of St. Thomas, looking to go .500 on the trip and pull closer to a winning record. The team did just that, earning a victory in dominating fashion, 8-1. The only loss came at first singles, as Elizabeth Adams was forced to retire from the match with an injury when she was down, 4-5, in the first set.

Except for that one setback, the other five singles players were dominant — not one player dropped a set — and they only lost a total of nine games, collectively.

“It was really fun, and great to be there as a team,” Borza said. “It was nice to be able to actually get outside and train in warm weather. We lost a tough one to Nova Southeastern, and it was a little controversial the way it happened. But we came back strong the next match and dominated St. Thomas.”

Upon its return from Florida, Pitt then lost to Big East rival Cincinnati, 6-1. The only match to go in Pitt’s favor came on a victory at first singles at the hand of sophomore Gabrielle Catanzariti, filling in for Adams, who was still out with the injury sustained during the previous match. sPitt then regrouped against another Big East opponent, Providence. Pitt pulled to 5-6 overall with a dominant 7-0 shutout. The freshman tandem of Lu and Borza dropped the No. 1 doubles match, 8-5, but the two other teams ran roughshod over their opponents.

The teams of Catanzariti and freshman Taylor Washington at No. 2 doubles, and juniors Karma Parbhu and Minh Evans at No. 3 each won their matches 8-0.

Singles play was no different, as each player was victorious. The continued absence of Adams proved no problem, as Catanzariti continued her winning ways at first singles. Parbhu and Evans, at fourth and sixth singles respectively, did not drop a game in their matches, each winning 6-0, 6-0.

The dominance displayed against Providence carried over into the following match, where Pitt took on Villanova. Again, the Panthers took home a 7-0 victory, this time with Adams in the lineup who, with victories in both No. 1 singles and doubles play, went home tied for second in all-time wins.

Adams tied her wins with alumna Carlie Smith, who finished her career with 135 victories. Additionally, the singles victory was number 65 for Adams, putting her in third place all-time in school history, three shy of alumna Fran Davis for second.

While Pitt lost to Seton Hall just one day later, one of the day’s lone bright spots was Adams, who picked up her 136th career victory to put her in second place for the all-time record.

“I knew going into the match that if I won, I would break the record. It’s always nice to move up in the record books, and I was really excited when it happened,” Adams said. “Knowing that it was close has really been motivating me to do well this year.”

Borza also expressed pride in her teammate’s achievement.

“It was great to see her get the record,” she said. “She’s been hurt this year, but I’ve seen her win a lot of matches when I would come watch my sister [Kristy Borza] play. It’s really cool that I got to see her play for three years, and now I get to play alongside her. Elizabeth is a great player, and she’s won a lot of big matches for Pitt tennis.”

The most recent Pitt match came against crosstown foe, Duquesne. The Panthers were unable to assert themselves over the Dukes, as only Evans was able to pick up a victory in sixth singles.

Beyond that, the Panthers were unable to do much else as the rest of the team only combined to win two sets in singles play, and the doubles teams lost hard-fought matches.

Now at 6-8 overall, the Panthers have six games remaining on the schedule. The team looks to get over .500 and make a strong run in the Big East tournament starting in late April.

The home stretch for the team begins Wednesday, with a home match against the Penguins of Youngstown State, and matches further down the line come against Big East tennis powers Syracuse and Rutgers.

“We are looking to make the tournament, and we know we have to beat two of the top teams,” Evans said. “But we are focused in practice, and we know what we have to do down the stretch.”