Tennis victorious again, hosts Mercyhurst today

After Pitt tennis coasted through several matches to start the season, the Panthers pushed… After Pitt tennis coasted through several matches to start the season, the Panthers pushed through a day of grueling tiebreakers against Villanova this past Saturday.

Despite the challenge posed by the Big East rival, Pitt won, 5-2.

Noticeably absent from the Panthers roster was Leah Friedman, the No. 2 Pitt player for singles games, and the companion to No. 1 player on Pitt’s top-seeded doubles team, Kristy Borza.

Friedman is sitting out indefinitely because of tendonitis in her wrist and elbow, according to Pitt head coach George Dieffenbach.

The match began with first-time doubles teammates Carlie Smith and Annie Piccirillo capturing one of the three key doubles games, 8-2.

Christie D’achille and Annie Davies then fell to Wildcats Jaclyn Williamson and Leighann Reilly, 8-5.

That left the No. 1 doubles team of Kristy Borza and Sabrina Visram, who stepped into Friedman’s vacated spot for the day, to decide the all-important doubles point for the teams.

Borza and Visram came together to fight for a 6-6 tie after losing the first four sets. The score swung into their favor in a tiebreaker to finish the match with an 8-6 score.

“It is very important for the team to get the doubles point,” Dieffenbach said.

The Panthers have come out on top in doubles play nine times this year, boasting a 9-3 record.

As the teams moved into singles play, Borza dominated her match against Candice Carlin, wining 6-0 and 6-3. The sophomore propelled her all-time singles record to 24-5.

Smith then filled the No. 2 spot for Friedman, fighting to a tiebreaker and a super-tiebreaker against Williamson. After claiming the first set 6-3, Williamson came back with a 7-6 win.

Smith fought back to her own triumph of 10-5.

The junior now has 98 singles wins on her college career. That places her only two matches away from the coveted 100-win club for the program.

No junior has ever reached that mark at Pitt.

With three points chalked up for the team and only one more needed for Pitt victory, Visram, who has yet to lose a match this year, challenged Villanova’s Leighann Reilly.

After winning 7-6 in a tiebreaker, Visram earned her 11th consecutive win with a 6-2 clincher.

The freshman now holds the record for longest undefeated start in program history.

“Visram was the one who clinched the win for us,” Dieffenbach said. “But it was a strong team effort.”

The tie-breaking matches continued to plague Pitt, as D’achille and Anna Broverman both began their singles matches with 7-5 scores, marking one win and one loss.

D’achille, who was down in the first match, came back to take both sets and the match against Villanova’s Courtney Reed.

“It was a great comeback win,” Dieffenbach said.

Broverman, Pitt’s No. 6 player, lost her first set, and Colleen Walter prevailed with a 6-4 win in the second set.

The last point of the match lay in Annie Davies’ hands.

Davies, a senior, was down at first, losing a 6-2 set to Carla Erskine.

Davies then reversed the score in the second set, sending the two into yet another tiebreaker.

Her final match fell to Erskine, 6-4, resting the final score for the day in Pitt’s favor.

However, Davies’ loss dashed her hopes of grasping the all-time win record for Pitt. She, with 64 singles games to her name and 64 victorious doubles matches, is tied with former Panther Fran Davis at 124 total wins.

The Panthers now stand at 3-2 in the Big East and host their last home match this season today against Mercyhurst at Club 4 Life.