Tennis waddles by Penguins

George Dieffenbach, who has been the Pitt women’s tennis team’s head coach for 25 years,… George Dieffenbach, who has been the Pitt women’s tennis team’s head coach for 25 years, experienced his 250th career win on Wednesday at the Boardman Tennis Center in Youngstown, Ohio, as the Panthers beat the Penguins, 4-3.

He wasn’t, however, about to take the full load of credit.

“It was their win,” Dieffenbach said. “The girls gutted out a close 4-3 win today over a tough team. All of the teams that played for me before [the current Panthers] did the job to get the team to this point. I am grateful to have had experiences with the team like this.” Dieffenbach’s record is above .500 since he became head coach in 1981.

Kristy Borza and Leah Friedman took on the Penguin’s Nicole Haralambopoulos and Allison Day in typical Borza-Friedman style with a 8-3 win at No. 1 doubles. Borza and Friedman now hold a 14-6 doubles record.

“They have a very strong record,” Dieffenbach said. “They have been playing very well, very strong, a lot of consistency.”

Pitt’s Emily Hughes and Christie D’achille were defeated at the No. 2 spot by Gina Peretti and Emily Thayer, 8-5. Annie Davies and Becky Emmers teamed up for the Panthers at No. 3 doubles, playing last against Whitney Thomas and Michelle Fuleky to clinch the doubles point for Pitt with a very close 8-5 win.

“We had three very good performances from our doubles teams and fought hard for the doubles point,” Dieffenbach said.

The Panthers started singles play on top with a 1-0 lead over the Penguins. Borza swept Thayer at the No. 1 spot with a 6-0, 6-0 win. Borza pulled her record up to 19-5 with the shut out win. The Panthers’ Kim Harclerode took on Thomas, and lost 6-0, 6-2 in the second singles match. Friedman dropped a tight match at the No. 3 spot against Day, 5-7, 6-2, 10-8 in a super tiebreaker. Davies lost at the No. 4 spot against Peretti, 6-1, 6-0, putting the Penguins ahead 3-2.

Hughes took on Fuleky at the No. 5 spot, in a very tight match that ended 6-3, 7-6, 7-3, to tie up the score.

“Hughes set the stage for Smith to clinch the match for us,” Dieffenbach said. “It was an important, close match and she handled it well, attacking and using excellent judgment.”

Smith came from behind in a 3-set win over Haralambopoulos at the No. 6 doubles spot, that ended 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 and in a Panther victory.

“Smith played very consistently down the third stretch,” Dieffenbach said. “She played well offensively, changed up her pace after the first set and reduced her errors for the win.”

The Panthers pulled their record up to 9-4 for the season.

“Becky Emmers and Emily Hughes showed good senior leadership today with wins in doubles and singles,” Dieffenbach said. “We had very good team unity, which can be very effective.”

Pitt will next travel down Forbes Avenue to take on Carnegie Mellon this Tuesday at 4 p.m.

“They will be prepared for us and we will be prepared,” Dieffenbach said. “It will be a match to help us prepare for the Big East matches still ahead of us. These coming matches will decide our destiny. They will decide if we make the Big East Championship, which is what we have been building momentum towards.”