Women’s tennis: Visram returns from ACL injury as Panthers start regular season this Saturday

After suffering a season-ending injury last year, senior Sabrina Visram will return to the Pitt… After suffering a season-ending injury last year, senior Sabrina Visram will return to the Pitt women’s tennis team as it begins the spring season on Saturday. The Panthers will travel to College Park, Md., for a matchup against the Terrapins.

Visram, who played in the No. 2 position last season, tore her ACL against Georgetown after 13 wins — seven in doubles and six in singles.

Head coach George Dieffenbach said he hasn’t yet determined where in the lineup Visram will fit, which leaves questions about the middle and lower parts of the team.“She is going to be contending to be in the No. 4 or the No. 5 spot on the team,” Dieffenbach said. “She’s a very aggressive doubles player and has all the shots in singles.”

The other player competing for the four or five spot is Gabrielle Cantanzariti. The freshman has greatly improved, Dieffenbach said, because she found a balance between playing aggressive and steady.

Other parts of the lineup have already been sorted out. Elizabeth Adams will play in the No. 1 singles position, followed by Adela Aprodu and Shannon Benic in the second and third spots, respectively. Adams and Benic will team up to play No. 1 doubles.

In the fall, Adam and Benic defeated the No. 1-seeded doubles team en route to advancing to the semifinals of the Sergio Tacchini Collegiate Invitational in Norfolk, Va.

At the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Atlantic Region Championships at Virginia Tech, Adams and Benic made the No. 4-seeded team from Old Dominion fight for their 8-6 victory.

The Old Dominion duo of Joanna Dobrowolska and Nadine Fahoum continued on to win the tournament and represent the region at the national indoors competition after fighting off Adams and Benic.

Adams, a junior, became the fastest player in Pitt history to achieve 100 victories by reaching 101 wins during the fall season — an accomplishment that Dieffenbach acknowledged helped with her confidence.

“Adams and Benic played some outstanding doubles [in the fall],” the coach said. “Aprodu is a junior with a lot of experience. She is playing very well right now.”

Dieffenbach said the team has good depth, with Minh Evans and Sarah Dieffenbach, the coach’s daughter, rounding out the top eight.

“We hope that we don’t have an injury, but if players go down, we have good backups and good depth,” coach Dieffenbach said. “That’s going to help us in playing all those Big East matches.”

After finishing tournament play in the fall, the team began practicing again on Jan. 18. The Panthers started with conditioning two or three times a week, which they have now stepped up to five days a week.

Dieffenbach said the main goal for the team this season is to earn a winning record, particularly a winning record against Big East conference opponents.

If they achieve that, Dieffenbach said, Pitt will obtain a good seed in the conference and qualify for the conference championship.

“In the Big East championship, our goal is to take it one step higher,” Dieffenbach said. “Last year, we finished tied for seventh. This year, we want to try and get to sixth.”

Overall, Dieffenbach said he wants the team to practice like it competes. If they do that, he said, the Panthers will be prepared and have an opportunity to win every match.

He said it’s important for the Panthers to maximize their talents with their mental abilities, so they can match their strengths with opponents’ weaknesses.

“Our job is always to win two out of three doubles matches and get the doubles point,” Dieffenbach said. “That’s very important. Then, we want to finish strong and close out those teams in singles.”

It’s going to be a good team, he said, with both chemistry and energy.

“We will do our best to take it to a higher level and go after opponents, particularly the Big East opponents,” Dieffenbach said.

After opening the regular season with their games against Maryland on Saturday, Pitt will return home to take on Big East rival West Virginia on Feb. 10.