Borza, Friedman finish off early season strong

Over the course of two months, the Pitt tennis team progressed, culminating in two players… Over the course of two months, the Pitt tennis team progressed, culminating in two players participating in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championships at Dartmouth University on the weekend of Oct. 21-22.

Senior Annie Davies swung her way up into the Pitt record books too, closing in on the all-time wins mark.

On the final weekend of the season, Kristy Borza, along with Leah Friedman, represented the Panthers in the ITA Northeast Regional at Dartmouth University.

In the singles round of 128, Borza defeated Sarah Mayer of Siena, 6-1, 7-5 before falling to top-seed Marshall’s Kellie Schmitt, 3-6, 2-6 in the next round.

The tandem of Borza and Friedman defeated Tamara John and Kasia Preneta of Cornell in the doubles round of 64, 8-4, and then defeated 11th-seeded Britnney Larson and Jennifer Stevens in the following round, 8-6.

In the round of 16, the Pitt duo lost to Schmitt and Lynzee Kever of Marshall, 8-5. This was the furthest a Panthers doubles team has ever advanced in the ITA Tournament.

“That was a great conclusion to our fall season where our team made a lot of progress and played some very strong tennis in these individual tournaments,” head coach George Dieffenbach said.

“Finally in the ITA Tournament, Borza lost to a great player in Kellie Schmitt, who was the top seed in the east. That was a tight finish and she had some great experience she’ll take with her down to the spring season. The doubles region round of 16 was a great accomplishment for Pitt.”

In concluding its fall season, the Pitt tennis team starts its spring season vs. Bucknell on Feb. 2, 2007.

The Panthers began their fall season at the Carnegie Mellon Invitational. Borza in particular shined for the Panthers. Borza won the Flight No. 1 Singles title with a 3-0 record and teamed with Friedman to win the Flight No. 1 Doubles.

Borza swept her first match with a pair of 6-0 scores, and then swept Duquesne’s Jackie Hughes, 6-4, 6-0. Waiting for Borza was her very own teammate, Friedman. Borza swept Friedman, 6-2, 6-1 to take the Singles title.

The next day, Friedman decided that if she couldn’t beat Borza, she should join her, and the tandem beat a Duquesne duo, 8-4 and CMU’s Amy Staloch and Monica Iyer, 8-5, to garner the Flight No. 1 Doubles crown.

Davies won the Flight No. 2 Singles, sweeping teammate Carlie Smith, 6-1, 6-4.

After that, Christie D’Achille took command of Flight No. 3 Singles, beating Duquesne’s Alicia McNamara, 6-3, 6-0. In Flight No. 4 Singles, Anne Piccirillo swept CMU’s Mai Otsura by two 6-0 counts to take that title.

In Flight No. 3 Doubles the next day, D’Achille and freshman Anna Broverman took the title in defeating the CMU duo, Kelly Nakamura and Claire Weiss, 8-4. Piccirillo and Michele Petrasko defeated Otsuka and Stankevich of CMU to win Flight No. 4 Doubles.

The only doubles setback for the Panthers was Davies and Smith falling to Johanna Bezjak and Rachel McGowan of Duquesne 8-0 in Flight No. 2.

Two weeks later, Borza took the Flight A Singles Title at the Youngstown State Invitational, sweeping Myrian Cuva, 6-4, 6-2. Christie D’Achille finished third in Flight B Singles and along with Davies in Flight A Doubles. Piccirillo and Petrasko also finished third in Flight B Doubles.

The Panthers traveled to West Virginia to the Martha Thorn Invitational the first weekend of October. Borza and Friedman both reached the quarterfinals of Flight A Singles.

Carlie Smith fared a little better in reaching the semifinals of Flight B Singles, where she lost to WVU’s Stacy Percival, 6-2, 6-0. D’Achille also reached the quarterfinals of Flight B Singles. She teamed up with Davies to reach the semifinals of Flight B Doubles, where they lost to Ashley Constantine and Kelly Walsh of WVU, 8-6.

The following weekend, Oct. 13-15, Pitt competed in the Hampton Roads Collegiate Tennis Invitational in Virginia. Piccirillo took the Flight D-2 Singles crown, when she swept Mary Washington’s Natalia Fugate, 6-2, 6-4. D’Achille advanced to the finals of Flight B Singles, where she was swept by Lauren Sabacinski of William ‘ Mary, 0-6, 2-6.

In Flight A Doubles, Borza and Friedman lost in the quarterfinals to top-seeded duo of Old Dominion, Charleen Haarhoff and Fernanda Luiz, 8-3. Davies and D’Achille also reached the semifinals, where they fell to Magdalena Bresson and Klaudyna Kasztelaniec. 4-8, of William ‘ Mary.

Davies now has 107 combined singles (53) and doubles (54) wins, which places her seventh in team history in combined career wins. Davies ranks eighth all-time in singles wins for Pitt and fourth for doubles.