Pitt Tennis Heads to Yale for Bulldog Invite
10/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh women’s tennis team heads to New Haven, Conn., to compete in the Bulldog Invite hosted by Yale. The Panthers will face Brown, Yale and Harvard this weekend, October 9-11.
“I think we prepared pretty well to have the best option to succeed at a very strong Yale tournament,” head coach Alex Santos said. “In a team with four freshmen, we will need to grow quickly, emotionally and have great leadership from our upper classmen. I am very confident in our tennis and hopefully we will be able to combine that same quality with a sense of a complete team. Doubles will be very important in trying to find our rhythm from the very beginning.”
LAST TIME OUT
Prior to taking a week off from competition, Pitt spent the weekend in Evanston, Ill., at the Wildcat Invite hosted by Northwestern. Sophomore Callie Frey had a strong finish for the Panthers as she placed second in the White singles draw.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Brown – Friday, Noon
The Bears finished 58th last season and returns junior Dayna Lord who was recently ranked No. 118 in the 2015 Oracle/ITA Women’s DI Preseason Rankings. Last season Lord earned unanimous First Team All-Ivy accolades in singles, making the honor her second straight, after recording an 18-12 mark on the season.
Yale – Saturday, 10 a.m.
The Bulldogs will be competing at home for the first time this weekend. Yale is paced by senior captain Ree Ree Lo, and juniors Sherry Li and Caroline Lynch who all had notable performances in the Bulldogs’ last tournament at the Cissie Leary Invitational in Philadelphia, Pa. New to the roster this season is three freshmen Caroline Amos, Sonal Shrivastava, and Amy Yang, who have also competed well in their fall season thus far.
Harvard – Sunday, 9 a.m.
Harvard is competing in its second invitational of the fall season after hosting their Fall Classic and attending the Brown Invitational. Notable returners include senior Amanda Lin and sophomore Annika Ringblom. Lin came in at No. 98 in the ITA preseason rankings, while both her and Ringblom were tabbed COOP Athlete of the Week back-to-back weeks. The Crimson welcome a top performer in Erica Oosterhaut, who was ranked eighth in the Oracle/ITA DI Women’s National Newcomer/Freshmen Rankings.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Last fall at the Bulldog Invite, the Panthers were led by sophomore Callie Frey who went 2-1 in both singles and doubles.
LOOKING AHEAD
Following a weekend in Connecticut, Pitt will head to Lynchburg, Va., for the ITA Regional Championships hosted by Liberty.
#H2P
For updates throughout the weekend and season, follow the team on Twitter at @PittTennis.