Women's Tennis Records Milestone Season
4/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 20, 2007
PITTSBURGH-In its milestone season, where the Pitt women's tennis team recorded its 300th program victory, the Panthers concluded its season with another winning record at 10-7, while posting a 3-4 Big East mark.
The Panthers started the season strong, shutting out three of its first four opponents. Pitt picked up a road win over conference foe Georgetown, dropping only one point in that match. Ironically, in its first three losses the Panthers dropped 4-3 contests, where they also fell in doubles, making that the deciding point.
The season was full of impressive performances by several members of the squad. For the first time in school history, senior Annie Davies (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg) and junior Carlie Smith (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) became the first two simultaneous teammates in the program's history to join the 100-Victory Club.
Among that pair, Davies went on to become the school-record holder for overall career wins (126), shattering the nearly 10 year mark. Davies was the eighth Panther to win 100 matches at Pitt and finished her career with the second-most doubles wins (63) and tied for the third-most career singles wins (63).
Smith, on the other hand, became the first-ever junior in Pitt history to join the 100-Victory Club, recording 101 career wins in just three seasons. As is stands, Smith is the ninth member of this elite group and ranks ninth on the career singles winning percentage list (.617).
Elected as the team's MVP for the second-consecutive year, sophomore Kristy Borza (Beaver, Pa/Beaver Area) did her own record breaking this season, racking up the most singles wins ever in a season when she posted a 27-7 record this year. Borza improved upon her freshman record of 26-7 when she tied Maria Paris' 26-5 mark from 1979-80 to claim the record.
She now has the third-best highest career singles-winning percentage (.791) and have an overall record of 53-14 in singles, while holding onto 95 career victories in singles and doubles action.
Making another change to the record books, sophomore Christie D'achille (Gibsonia, Pa/North Allegheny) shares part of the single-season doubles record, as she posted 21 wins this year, tying Borza's first two seasons and Fran Davis (1997-98). D'achille also moved into the number four spot of the single-season singles winning percentage with a 24-6 record in her second year.
Contributing to the team immediate, freshman Sabrina Visram (Orlando, Fla./Lake Highland Prep) capped off her standout rookie season by earning the highest singles-winning percentage ever for a Panther with a 15-2 record. Visram opened her career with an undefeated 9-0 start, which is the best-ever start of any Panther, ever.
Junior Leah Friedman's (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) season was shortened due to injury, however her efforts prior to that aided the team's early success. Friedman posted a 17-5 record in doubles this season, recording the 10th-best spot on the seasonal doubles list. Friedman also moved into fifth place with 50 career doubles wins.
As a team the Panthers opened the season 4-0 for the first time since 1996-97. This is the second consecutive season Pitt has finished the year with a winning record and fifth in the last six. The Panthers also tallied stellar winning percentages in both singles (.634) and doubles (.717).