Tennis team ends season with tourney losses

While most of Pitt relaxed this weekend after a hard week of exams, three Panthers traveled… While most of Pitt relaxed this weekend after a hard week of exams, three Panthers traveled across the state to take on some of the top tennis competition in the eastern United States.

Becky Emmers, Jill Williams and Emily Hughes represented Pitt at the Wilson/ITA tournament, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania. Emmers, who has played in the top bracket in all of the team’s tournaments this season, got the nod for singles competition. Williams and Hughes paired up to play in the doubles flight.

The first round of the doubles main draw pitted Williams and Hughes against the eighth seed in the tournament, a Richmond team of Beatrice Grasu and Lindsay Cox. Grasu and Cox took the match, 8-2.

The loss means that Williams finishes the fall season with 94 combined wins at Pitt. She will enter the spring season within striking distance of Fran Davis’ school record of 124.

Singles play did not treat the Panthers any better. Emmers faced Alessandra Pedergnana from Maryland-Baltimore County. Pitt’s top singles player proved unable to handle the Retrievers’ ace, as Pedergnana cruised to a 6-0, 6-2 victory.

“They were strong players. They made very few unforced errors, and if we made any errors, they made us pay for it,” head coach George Dieffenbach said of the Panthers’ opponents. “The opponents at this tournament are of the highest quality.”

But that kind of competition is exactly the kind Pitt welcomes.

“The only way you get better is to see the best play,” Dieffenbach continued. He pointed out that Pitt played at the Bucknell Invitational and the Martha Thorn Invitational this year in order to do exactly that — see the best.

The fact that the Panthers finished the fall season with several championships from several tournaments certainly makes it seem like that philosophy is working.

The ITA tournament concludes the women’s fall season. Strength and conditioning take center stage for the Panthers until they hit the courts again in January to start practices for the spring season.

The team kicks off competition when they visit Marshall on Jan. 22. Big East play begins Feb. 5 at Georgetown.