Pitt
Providence
Women's Tennis Sweeps Providence
3/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 14, 2011
PITTSBURGH--Sophomore Karma Parbhu and junior Minh Evans won every game in both singles and doubles, as the University of Pittsburgh women's tennis team earned a hard-fought 7-0 victory over Providence College this afternoon at Alpha Tennis and Fitness Club. The Panthers improved to 5-6 and 1-3 in Big East play.
"We had a quality 7-0 victory over a much- improved Providence College team today," Head Coach George Dieffenbach said. "Looking at the scores, the match was much closer than the shutout indicated."
Pitt earned the doubles point in this afternoon's match. The No. 2 and No. 3 pairs swept their opponents to give the Panthers the early 1-0 advantage. The No. 3 match featured the team of Parbhu and Evans, who improved to 2-2 in their first sweep of the season.
Second to finish, the No. 2 pairing of sophomore Gabrielle Catanzariti and freshman Taylor Washington blanked their opponent with a great closet play from Taylor. The duo improved to 2-1 overall.
Pitt's No. 1s opened their match with a first-game win at 60-love. Providence would fight back and later lead 7-4. The team of freshmen Jocelyn Lu and Kimmy Borza would hold off Providence when they won their fifth game, as Lu used a powerful swing to bounce the ball under the racket of one of the Providence No. 1s. PC, however, earned the win with the next game and claimed an 8-5 victory.
With her doubles match ending quick and early, Parbhu was the first to start singles action. Similar to her performance in doubles, Parbhu jumped out to a quick advantage and took the first set at 6-0. She later walked away with her second two-set shutout victory of the season.
As Parbhu was shaking her opponents hand, Evans was the second to finish. Evans also earned her second straight-set shutout victory of the season. Earlier this Spring, Evans won 6-0 in two sets back on Feb. 20 against St. Bonaventure.
Freshman Brittney Russell solidified the win for the Panthers and lifted the squad to a 4-0 lead in the match. Playing in No. 5 singles, Russell led by one in both sets most of the way through. She maintained the slight lead and pulled away for a pair of victories at 6-4. Russell claimed her sixth singles win of the Spring
Earning her second-consecutive win at No. 1 singles, Catanzariti won her match after holding off her opponent in a third-set breaker. She won her first tiebreaker of the season with that victory.
Posting the sixth point of the match for the Panthers, Lu dropped just two games in her first set. After a short recess, she swept the second frame and tallied her 11th straight-set victory of the season.
In the final match of the day, Borza played yet another tiebreaker in her first set that was reminiscent of her match a few days ago. She was victorious winning six games in the breaker. She then cruised to a second-set win at 6-2.
"We are looking forward to two more conference matches this week and bettering our league record," Dieffenbach added.
The Panthers host Villanova on Friday, March 18. The match is slated to start at 12:30 p.m. Pitt will also play Seton Hall on Saturday, March 19 at 1 p.m.
Doubles
1. Auiles/Bernardez def. Lu/Borza, 8-5
2. Catanzariti/ Taylor Washington def. Sinha/Ferry, 8-0
3. Parbhu/Evans def. Burek/Sciotti, 8-0
Singles
1. Gabrielle Catanzariti (Pitt) def. Marisela Aviles-Duron (PC) 6-2, 2-6 (7)
2. Jocelyn Lu (Pitt) def. Maria Clara Bernardez (PC) 6-2, 6-0
3. Kimmy Borza (Pitt) def. Ayushi Sinha (PC) 7-6 (6), 6-2
4. Karma Parbhu (Pitt) vs. Courtney Burek (PC) 6-0, 6-0
5. Brittney Russell (Pitt) vs. Melissa Ferry (PC) 6-4, 6-4
6. Minh Evans (Pitt) def. Bianca Sciotti (PC) 6-0, 6-0
