Tennis finishes fall season with losses in tournament

The fall season is over for the Pitt women’s tennis team, and although it featured many… The fall season is over for the Pitt women’s tennis team, and although it featured many victories as individuals and as a team, the final weekend allowed neither, with no Pitt participant advancing out of the first round.

Members of Pitt’s women’s tennis team traveled to Blacksburg, Va., last weekend to play in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Championship. The tournament is the largest women’s tournament in the country, featuring 45 different teams from the East Coast, ranging from New England to Virginia.

While this tournament was going on, eight other tournaments of the same nature went on around the country. The finalists of the doubles and singles flights of each tournament will then go on to the National Indoor Championships in the spring.

“It was great to go to play in the best tournament in the country. I knew we had a good chance to draw really tough opponents, and that’s what happened,” Pitt head coach George Dieffenbach said. “Even though the girls weren’t able to come away with any wins, it was a good experience to see the next level so we can strive to keep improving.”

In singles action for Pitt was Becky Emmers, who was faced off against the Carolyn Kramer of Virginia Tech. Kramer proved to be too much for Emmers, winning the match, 6-0 and 6-2.

The team of Hayley Hughes and Annie Davies participated in the doubles flight for Pitt and drew Beatrice Grasu and Meghan Wolfgram, the ninth-seeded team from Richmond. The Richmond team controlled the match, allowing Pitt to win only one game and taking the match over Hughes and Davies, 8-1.

“Our girls were very competitive, but [Grasu and Wolfgram] had great shot-making ability and really worked the angles of the court,” Dieffenbach said. “We had won some rounds in past years [at the ITA Championship], but this year, it just wasn’t meant to be.”

The team will have conditioning practice three days a week until Thanksgiving, when tennis will give way to academics.

“We will be in the gym working on flexibility, agility and becoming stronger and faster, but as our season ends, this is truly the time when academics should be their focus,” Dieffenbach said.

Practices on the tennis court resume in January, and the spring season begins on Feb. 21 against Georgetown.