Panthers Conclude Day One at Harvard Invitational

Friday, November 6

Cambridge, Mass.

TBA

Pitt

Harvard Invitational

Panthers Conclude Day One at Harvard Invitational

11/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Nov. 6, 2015

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Pitt tennis team concluded its first day of competition on Friday evening at the Harvard Invitational. Three Panthers notched singles victories and recorded one doubles win over the host team.

"I am extremely proud with the way we competed today," head coach Alex Santos said. "Top to bottom we showed nothing but resilience, persistence in finding a solution, and incredible pride in representing Pitt tennis. Lolade [Ogungbesan] and Audrey Ann [Blakely] were the leaders we needed for this program, Carina [Ma] did something that at this level is almost impossible to do, Clara [Lucas] handled business like a professional."

Singles action was highlighted by freshman Carina Ma as she collected her seventh victory of the fall campaign. Ma shutout Harvard's Danielle Mirda in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.

Although ultimately suffering a loss, junior Lolade Ogungbesan battled with No. 98 Erica Oosterhaut as she dropped the first set 6-2, claimed the second 6-4, but fell in the third, 7-6 (8).

Junior Audrey Ann Blakely earned her sixth win of the fall after taking down June Lee, 6-3, 6-3.

Sophomore Callie Frey continued her strong play today as she defeated Sabrina Xiong, 6-2, 6-4, improving her fall record to 9-6.

Rounding out the singles wins was freshman Clara Lucas who took down Boston University's Kim McCallum, 6-3, 6-2.

The Panthers tallied one doubles win on the day, coming from the duo of Blakey and freshman Gabriela Rezende. The tandem improved to 6-5 in the fall after dominating Mirda/Jasper, 8-3.

"In doubles Harvard was a bit better than us and we will talk about some minor adjustments that we need to be doing tomorrow," Santos said. "In singles, with the exception of one court, we put ourselves in the position to win the match. If we are able to have a short memory, be mature in understanding how well we played today, and increase our intensity tomorrow, great things will happen."

Pitt will continue action tomorrow with Boston University starting at 2:15 p.m.

DOUBLES

Lee/Oosterhaut (H) def. Ogungbesan/Washington (P), 8-2

Blakely/Rezende (P) def. Mirda/Jasper (H), 8-3

Xiong/He (H) def. Ma/Okamoto (P), 8-3

SINGLES

No. 98 Oosterhaut (H) def. Ogungbesan (P), 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (8)

Blakely (P) def. Lee (H), 6-3, 6-3

He (H) def. Rezende (P), 6-0, 6-7 (2), 6-3

Frey (P) def. Xiong (H), 6-2, 6-4

Ma (P) def. Mirda (H), 6-0, 6-0

Jasper (H) def. Okamoto (P), 6-3, 6-3