Forbes Avenue kind to Panther tennis squad

The Pitt Women’s tennis team picked up its fourth consecutive win on Tuesday with a win over… The Pitt Women’s tennis team picked up its fourth consecutive win on Tuesday with a win over neighbor Carnegie Mellon (10-5). The Panthers improved their season record to 10-4 with the 7-2 win at CMU.

“They were a lot harder than we expected,” senior Becky Emmers said. “We expected a much easier match. Everyone had to put up a fight.”

The Panthers notched two early points after winning two of the doubles matches to start out on top.

Emily Hughes and Christie D’achille picked up a win at No. 2 doubles over Samantha Schultz and Sheena David in a match that ended 8-4. The win improved Hughes and D’achille to a 5-3 doubles record. Annie Davies and Emmers also recorded another win for Pitt as they defeated Alison Liu and Kelly Nakamura in a No. 3 doubles match that ended 8-6. Davies and Emmers are now above .500 for the season with a 5-4 doubles record.

Kristy Borza and Leah Friedman dropped the No. 1 doubles match against the Tartans Amy Staloch and David. Borza and Friedman still hold a notable 14-7 doubles record.

“I’m really proud of her,” Emmers said of Borza. “She’s done well in four straight matches. In every single match for the team, she always pulls it out. I’m really impressed with how she plays and what she’s accomplished as a freshman.”

Singles play went just as smoothly for the Panthers as they picked up five matches over the Tartans. Pitt Freshman Borza picked up her second victory of the day, as she won her singles match at the No. 1 spot, recording her fourth straight singles win. Borza defeated Staloch for the 6-1, 6-4 victory and improved her record to 20-5, which leads the team.

Davies also continued an impressive winning streak, with a fourth consecutive win at the No. 3 slot over David. Davies beat David 6-3, 6-1, and increased her record to 10-9.

Friedman dropped a tight match at the No. 2 singles slot against the Tartans Mona Iyer, 5-7, 6-2, 10-7.

Hughes pulled out a win at the No. 4 spot, defeating Lui 6-2, 6-3. Smith improved her record to 19-6 with a win over Nakamura, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. D’achille defeated Schultz at No. 6 in a tiebreaker that ended 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.

Pitt has a full schedule this weekend as the women take on three of their Big East foes. The Panthers will match up against the Scarlet Knights as they travel to Rutgers on Friday at 2 p.m. Next, Pitt will travel to Providence to take on Providence Saturday and UConn Sunday.

“This coming road trip, we have three Big East games,” Emmers said. “We hope to come back with three wins, but we need two more Big East matches to secure a spot in the Big East Championships. That’s been our goal all along.”