Pitt tennis tops St. Francis, picks up eight straight win

It’s safe to the say that the Pitt women’s tennis team is playing well. Really well…. It’s safe to the say that the Pitt women’s tennis team is playing well. Really well.

The Panthers won their eighth straight match on Wednesday against St. Francis College, 7-0. The win was Pitt’s fourth shutout victory in a row.

Fresh off dominating performances against Robert Morris, Villanova and Youngstown State, Pitt swept through St. Francis, rarely showing signs of fatigue.

“We didn’t expect a real challenge from [St. Francis],” coach George Dieffenbach said. “This team was not as strong as us.”

Pitt doubles teams defeated all three of their opponents handily.

Panthers Hayley Hughes and Nikki Borza demolished Mary Byrer and Lesley Wenzell, 8-0.

First doubles players Jill Williams and Laura Pegula allowed the St. Francis players only one point, winning 8-1. Jena Fiore and Emily Hughes did likewise at third doubles.

“My instructions to the team before this match were ‘don’t take this team lightly,'” Dieffenbach said. However, he also encouraged a riskier style of play that proved to be advantageous for the Panthers.

“I wanted my players to get more aggressive, to take some chances,” Dieffenbach said. “You don’t go into this match hoping just to dominate a team; you go into the match to develop your game so that when the pressure’s on you’ve developed those habits. And that’s what we did.”

In singles, St. Francis rarely scratched Pitt at all.

In the closest match of the day, Byrer of St. Francis faced off against Pitt freshman Becky Emmers in the fourth seed of singles.

“[Byrer] was a pretty good player and she returned a lot of shots,” Dieffenbach said. “She was stubborn and tenacious.”

But that was not enough, as Emmers won the point, 6-3, 6-2.

The rest of the match was riddled with mismatched opponents.

Williams, Borza and Pegula won first, second and third singles, respectively, all with final scores of 6-1, 6-1.

Hayley Hughes shut out Kendra Fewell at fifth singles, 6-0, 6-0. And Fiore put down Jess Wanchalk at the sixth seed of singles, also 6-0, 6-0.

“Often times, in terms of team results, if you’re much stronger than another team, it’s very hard for that team to come up with an upset,” Dieffenbach said.

Pitt is now 11-8 on the season and 1-4 in the Big East.

Wins and losses have come in bunches this season for the Panthers. Beginning the season 3-0, then dropping eight straight matches and finally finding an eight-match win streak brought on questions of the team’s reliance on a rhythm.

“Look at the schedule,” Dieffenbach said. “Look at some of the teams we played. You’re playing a whole slew of very, very strong opponents [in the middle of the season]. “It took my team a while to develop this confidence and to be playing their best tennis and they’re doing it right now.”

Dieffenbach said that next year, more of the Big East matches would come later in the season.

Pitt’s next match is today against Seton Hall at West Virginia University.