Weekend Preview: Wrestling, tennis among teams set to embark on ACC firsts

Both tennis and wrestling have a chance to make a statement in their first season in the ACC this weekend, as tennis plays its first conference game and wrestling looks to clinch the ACC title.

Here’s a preview of this weekend’s action:

Baseball

Coming off a season-opening series win over Coastal Carolina, Pitt’s baseball team will travel to Spartanburg, S.C., with a 2-1 record to play three games in the USC-Upstate Tournament. The Panthers play Butler at noon on Friday, USC-Upstate at 4 p.m. on Saturday and Fordham at noon on Sunday.

After winning two out of three games against Coastal Carolina, Pitt has now posted winning records in its past six three-game sets that opened seasons — dating back to 2000. Overall, coach Joe Jordano was pleased with his team’s effort.

“For the first weekend out, we certainly did some good things, but we also identified several areas that need improvement,” Jordano said. “It was a solid start and we look forward to getting back to practice and getting back to work to prepare for another challenging weekend in South Carolina.”

Swimming and Diving

From Wednesday to Saturday, Pitt will travel to Greensboro, N.C., to take part in its first swimming and diving championships in the ACC.

Both the women’s swimming and diving teams will compete, while only diving will be in action on the men’s side. 

Sophomore Kaleigh Ritter will lead the way for the women, as she is ranked in one event nationally and three events in the ACC. Ritter is 18th in the nation and third in the ACC in the 1,650-meter freestyle with a time of 16:15.02. She is also ranked 10th in the 500-meter freestyle and 14th in the 1,000-meter freestyle in the ACC.

Senior Aaron Snyder spearheads the men, holding Pitt’s top score in the men’s three-meter and second in the one-meter boards.

Gymnastics

Fresh off a close 194.450-194.125 loss to West Virginia, Pitt gymnastics hopes to get back on track when it hosts North Carolina State on Friday night at 7 p.m.

Softball

For the second weekend in a row, Pitt’s softball team will play five games, this time in Boca Raton, Fla., in the Florida Atlantic Tournament.

The Panthers will start off the weekend today with matchups versus Kent State at 9 a.m. and Michigan at 1 p.m. After that, Pitt will play Saturday against Penn State and Florida Atlantic, at 4 and 8 p.m., respectively. Finally, the team will cap off the weekend with a 1 p.m. battle against Kent State.

Last weekend, Pitt finished 2-3 to drop its record to 5-5.

Track and Field

The Panthers track and field teams return to action this weekend at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. The championships take place on Saturday and Sunday.

Coming off his exceptional performance at the SPIRE Collegiate Invitational in Geneva, Ohio, senior sprinter Brycen Spratling was named the ACC Male Performer of the Week for the third time in as many weeks.

Spratling ran the nation’s second-fastest time and the third-fastest time in the world this year after posting a 45.57 in the 400-meter dash, a school, facility and meet record.

In addition to his record-setting in the 400-meter, Spratling anchored the 4×400 relay team of Micah Murray, Carvin Nkanata and Desmond Palmer, who ran a winning time of 3:07.98.

Wrestling 

Coming off a loss against Michigan, Pitt’s wrestling team hopes to get back on track as it travels to Chapel Hill, N.C., on Saturday to face off against North Carolina at noon and Campbell at 2 p.m.

With a win over North Carolina, the Panthers would clinch sole possession of the ACC title.

North Carolina is 6-10 overall and 1-4 in ACC matches, while Campbell is 4-2. Pitt is 12-3 and has lost back-to-back matches.

Tennis

Pitt’s tennis team will hope to continue its winning ways on Saturday and Sunday when it travels to Blacksburg, Va., and Winston-Salem, N.C., for their first two ACC matches. On Saturday, the team matches up against Virginia Tech at 11 a.m., while on Sunday it faces Wake Forest at noon.

Virginia Tech is 6-2 this year, while Wake Forest is 7-0. The Panthers have a 3-0 record coming off a 7-0 victory over Robert Morris last Saturday.

Women’s Basketball

The Panthers shot just 35.7 percent in a 69-62 loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Thursday night. Junior point guard Brianna Kiesel poured in a game-high 23 points. Pitt fell to a tie for 12th place in the conference and is set to face Syracuse in the Carrier Dome  on Sunday at 1 p.m.