Pitt
Cincinnati (BEC)
Women's Tennis Earns First-Ever First Round Victory
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 16, 2009
TAMPA, Fla.-Pitt's women's tennis team won its first-ever first round match in the Big East Championship, as senior Christie D'achille earned her 61st career win in singles to lift the ninth-seeded Panthers to an upset victory over No. 8 seed Cincinnati, 4-3, at the USF Tennis Courts.
Playing for close to five hours, Pitt (12-8, 6-3) recorded its first victory in the first round of the conference tournament and will advance to a second round matchup against No. 1 seed Notre Dame (21-4, 3-0) at 9 a.m., on Friday.
Reminiscent of last season's Big East Championship finale, D'Achille won the deciding match for Pitt again, this afternoon. She was one of four Panthers to secure a win in the first set. D'Achille was later ahead in the second frame, but would have to play a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, D'Achille battled back from a 6-1 deficit to tie it at 6, but eventually lost the set.
Finally, she would clinch Pitt's fourth point of the match with a 6-2 third-set victory. D'Achille improved to seventh on the all-time career singles victories list with that win.
The Panthers' first point of the match was secured by junior Shannon Benic, who won 6-2, 6-1 in about 45 minutes as the No. 6 singles player.
Sophomores Elizabeth Adams and Adela Aprodu would also win their matches in straight sets to give Pitt a 3-1 advantage. However, Cincinnati would knot the score with victories in No. 1 and No. 3 singles. In the No. 3 slot, freshman Minh Evans gave her opponent a fight, falling 7-5 in each set.
The Bearcats jumped out to the early lead, winning the doubles point with victories in No. 2 and No. 3. However, Pitt's No. 1 pair of Adams and senior Kristy Borza would win their 23rd match of the year, 8-5.
Tomorrow's contest marks the first series' meeting between the Panthers and Notre Dame. Nationally ranked No. 4, the Fighting Irish earned a first-round bye in the tournament and are coming off a victory over Texas A&M in their final regular-season match, where they swept the doubles and went 5-1 in singles play.
Singles
Ksenia Slynko (Cincinnati) def. Kristy Borza (Pitt) 6-2, 6-2
Elizabeth Adams (Pitt) def. Jenny Rowan (Cincinnati) 6-2, 6-0
Val Dandik (Cincinnati) def. Mihn Evans (Pitt) 7-5, 7-5
Christie D'achille (Pitt) def. Safiyya Ismail (Cincinnati) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2
Adela Aprodu (Pitt) def. Jenniffer Wise (Cincinnati) 6-2, 6-2
Shannon Benic (Pitt) def. Elizabeth Young (Cincinnati) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
Borza & Adams (Pitt) def. Dandik &Slynko (Cincinnati) 8-5
Rowen & Young (Cincinnati) def. Evans & Aprodu (Pitt) 8-6
Wise & Ismail (Cincinnati) def. D'Achille & Benic (Pitt) 8-4
