Pitt tennis drops two matches during road trip to California

Like most students, Pitt’s women’s tennis team took a trip to the sunny coast for spring… Like most students, Pitt’s women’s tennis team took a trip to the sunny coast for spring break.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, their California trip was no walk on the beach.

Pitt dropped matches to University of California-Riverside and University of California-San Diego last week to extend its losing streak to eight games and fall to 3-8 on the season.

UC-Riverside 5, Pitt 2

Pitt managed two singles wins in a March 4 loss to UC-Riverside. In the No. 3 singles match, Laura Pegula defeated UCR’s Kelley Takeshita in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 thriller, while No. 5 Hayley Hughes grabbed a straight-set victory over Miranda Lagac for the Panthers.

But the Panthers would struggle against UCR, taking only one set the rest of the way. No. 1 Jill Williams took a first-set tiebreaker over UCR’s Michelle Beyronneau, but ultimately dropped the final two sets at 6-4 and 6-1. No. 2 Nikki Borza dropped two straight tiebreakers, and Becky Emmers and Jena Fiore both dropped straight set losses for the Panthers.

UCR swept Pitt for the doubles point as the No. 1 team of Beyronneau/Casey Cross defeat Pitt’s top tandem of Williams/Pegula 8-2. No. 2 Takeshita/Carolyn Mitchell defeated Borza/ H. Hughes 9-8, and No. 3 Kristina Schuster/Lindsay Litvinoff finished the job for UCR, defeating the team of E. Hughes/Fiore.

Pitt traveled to UCSD’s Northview Tennis Courts Wednesday to take on the No. 14 team in the land.

No. 14 UC-San Diego 9, Pitt 1

Pitt managed to win only three sets as a team, as UC-San Diego dominated the Panthers March 5.

H. Hughes won her second match in two days, defeating UCSD’s Marissa Hilker 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Hughes made her day perfect when she and teammate Borza defeated UCSD’s No. 2 doubles team of Tara Siddiqui and Jasmin Dao 9-8.

USCD dominated the rest of the day, as Julie Westerman, Dao, Siddiqui, Kristina Jansen, and Leigh Roberts all earned straight-set victories over their Panther counterparts. The team of Westerman/ Ishii defeated No. 1 pair Williams/Pegula 8-5, and No. 3 Janson/Ishii tool down Fiore/E. Hughes 8-3.

Pitt will look to get its first win since mid-January, as it hosts St. Bonnaventure Saturday at Washington’s Landing. Matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.