Tennis sweeps doubles, claims victory over Mercyhurst

The women’s tennis team came together Sunday inside the Oxford Athletic Club to defeat… The women’s tennis team came together Sunday inside the Oxford Athletic Club to defeat visiting Mercyhurst 5-2.

“It was an excellent team effort today,” head coach George Dieffenbach said, “where everyone was a factor in getting a point.”

Points came from every which way. Pitt swept the doubles matches to go up 1-0 on the Lakers and then went on to take four of the six singles matches.

The deciding match was the fourth singles match of the day between Pitt’s Leah Friedman and Mercyhurst’s Jamie Sutyak, and it did not lack drama or excitement.

Friedman pulled off a comeback victory 7-6 (2), 6-1 against Sutyak. She recovered from a 5-2 deficit, but stormed back in the tiebreaker and in the second set. The win gave Pitt a 4-1 lead on Mercyhurst, leaving the Vikings no chance to stage a comeback of their own.

The match started out with Pitt being awarded, as Dieffenbach would say, the ever-important first point with the sweep of the Lakers in the doubles.

In the No. 1 spot, Jill Williams and Emily Hughes teamed up for the Panthers and took down Charity Seigmund and Natalie Paparella, with a score of 8-5.

Dieffenbach said it was a good showing, both defensively and offensively.

“They held serves, returned serves and also attacked,” he added.

Coming back from behind, the Panthers’ Becky Emmers and Annie Davies won a tight match, 9-7. Emmers and Davies played No. 2 doubles against the Lakers’ Joanna Olmstead and Jennifer Daly. After their slow start, Emmers and Davies gained momentum and grabbed their third straight victory, upping their doubles record to 4-3 for the season. Emmers and Davies have been stepping it up and playing “the complete game,” Dieffenbach said.

“They have won over some really tough teams, including Cincy and Georgetown,” he added. “They play with a combination of consistency, quickness and finding openings on the court.”

In No. 3 doubles, it was the freshman duo from Pitt that emerged victorious. Pitt’s Friedman and Carlie Smith cruised through a solid match against Sutyak and Christine Mersch with an 8-1 win that impressed Dieffenbach.

“They are two freshmen with a lot of chemistry,” he said. “They were really into the match and did a great job taking the offense.”

While the Pitt freshmen showed their strength and consistency, it was Williams who proved her senior leadership Sunday with her 95th and 96th career wins. Williams’ 96th win came with her No. 1 singles match against Seigmund, 6-3, 6-0.

With a strong first set, Williams easily closed out the second match with a 6-0 sweep, inching her way toward the 100-point victory club (and possibly the all-time Pitt record of 124 career wins). The victory also jump-started Pitt to a 2-0 lead.

Mercyhurst narrowed the gap to 2-1 when Paparella defeated Pitt’s Emmers at the No. 2 spot in a tightly contested match, 7-5, 6-2.

The Panthers, however, won three of the final four, starting with the third singles match that was put away fast in Pitt’s favor, as Davies ran over Olmstead, 6-0, 6-1. Davies, who is recovering from an illness, played a strong, quick match.

“I told her to win the match quickly, because she wouldn’t want to be out there too long,” Dieffenbach said.

Davies did just that.

“She commanded the match, played efficient tennis and hit a lot of winners,” Dieffenbach said. “She played great for spending three days in bed.”

Hughes, in the fifth singles match, suffered a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Daly. The No. 6 spot was much sweeter for Pitt’s Smith, who came through with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Mersch. Dieffenbach was pleased with Smith’s consistent performances.

“Smith shows good depth in both singles and doubles matches,” Dieffenbach said.

Dieffenbach was also pleased with the continuing success the Panthers showed in doubles play, which he believes is a critical point in the matches.

“Doubles are important, and we work very hard on that in practice, doing doubles drills,” Dieffenbach said, “and it shows when we sweep a team like this in doubles.”

The Panthers will next take on Robert Morris at home. The match is scheduled for March 1 at 1 p.m.