Women’s tennis: Panthers finish fall season, prepare for the spring

This fall, Elizabeth Adams reached 101 career victories, becoming the fastest Pitt women’s… This fall, Elizabeth Adams reached 101 career victories, becoming the fastest Pitt women’s tennis player to achieve 100 victories. Adams, a junior, still has the spring season and her entire senior year remaining to add to her win total.

With the conclusion of its fall season last week, the Pitt tennis team now takes a three-month break from competition.

The Panthers, like all collegiate tennis teams across the country, won’t compete again until next February. The collegiate tennis season is split in half, with the fall season running from September through October and the spring season beginning in February and wrapping up in April.

Pitt competed at the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Women’s Atlantic Region Championships at Virginia Tech last week, and no team plays after that point until match and conference play picks up again in February.

“From the middle of January, you start practicing and then go to the end of April,” Pitt head coach George Dieffenbach said. “In comparison to volleyball, which starts in September and goes through part of November, tennis is a long season.”

Dieffenbach said the team takes an academic approach to the three-month break until the Panthers begin play again Feb. 6 against Maryland.

They will condition two days a week, and the players will continue to practice when they can find court time. Dieffenbach said the Panthers wouldn’t begin regular practices again until January, adding that the break gives the athletes a chance to catch up on school work.

He said he trusts that the athletes will continue to stay in shape on their own over winter break, so the team will be prepared and ready to play when official practices start again.

“We will have some challenge matches,” Dieffenbach said. “It will be a smooth transition. We want to peak at the right time. We want to peak for the Big East championship in April.”

The Panthers played in three different tournaments during the fall season. The Women’s Eastern Collegiate Invitational started the season in September, followed by Sergio Tacchini Invitational and the ITA in October.

The team had a successful fall, with a number of players advancing to semi-final rounds, said Dieffenbach.

Dieffenbach said one of the high points of the fall season occurred when Elizabeth Adams and Shannon Benic went to the semi-finals after defeating the No. 1-seeded doubles team at the Sergio Tacchini Invitational in Norfolk, Va.

Adams and Benic overcame Alex Bara and Josefin Hjertquist of Virginia Commonwealth in a tiebreaker 9-8 (3).

Adams, who led the Panthers during the fall season, also won the singles consolation bracket at the tournament.

Despite falling in the first round, Adams and Benic continued their impressive play at the ITA. No. 4-seeded Joanna Dobrowolska and Nadine Fahoum of Old Dominion edged out the Pitt duo 8-6.

“That was the biggest tournament in the east,” Dieffenbach said. “Old Dominion went on to the win the whole tournament and will represent the region at national indoors.”

Both Adams and Minh Evans advanced to the finals at the Eastern Women’s Collegiate Invitational. Evans went 2-2 and won the Faith Singles bracket, while the fifth-seeded Adams finished with a 2-2 record in the main singles bracket.

Dieffenbach said he is hoping for a quick recovery for senior Sabrina Visram, whose season ended prematurely last year after she tore her ACL. She collected seven doubles wins and six singles victories before her injury.

“A lot of players got experience this fall,” Dieffenbach said. “We have a lot of depth on this year’s team from spots one through eight. There are good things ahead for us.”