Pitt Tennis Ready for Fall Competition
9/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh women’s tennis team has set its 2015 fall schedule, as announced by head coach Alex Santos on Tuesday. The Panthers will travel to the University of Miami, Northwestern, Yale, ITA Regional Championships hosted by Liberty University, and will end fall competition at Harvard.
“We are very excited about our fall schedule,” head coach Alex Santos said. “More importantly, we are excited about the ability of this group of girls to compete at their very best. It is without question a very challenging schedule to be playing the very best in collegiate tennis, but at the same time an amazing opportunity to gain confidence.”
The 2015-16 Panthers welcomes back four familiar faces in Audrey Ann Blakely, Callie Frey, Lolade Ogungbesan and Amber Washington, while adding four freshmen in Carina Ma, Clara Lucas Martinez, Natsumi Okamoto and Gabriela Feitosa Rezende.
Pitt opens fall competition by traveling to ACC foe Miami for the Hurricane Invite Sept. 18-20. Fellow ACC member Georgia Tech will be competing, along with Auburn, Ohio State, and the defending national champions Vanderbilt. The Panthers found success at the Invite last fall as recent graduate Amanda Wickman and redshirt junior Amber Washington took third in doubles.
The following weekend, Sept. 25-27, the Panthers will head to Evanston, Ill., for the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Northwestern.
After a weekend off, Pitt will return to the Bulldog Invitational for the second year in a row Oct. 9-11 at Yale. Sophomore Frey went 2-1 in both singles and doubles at the 2014 Invitational.
The Panthers will then head to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., for the ITA Regional Championships Oct. 15-19. Juniors Ogungbesan and Blakely reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Atlantic Regionals last year in Virginia Tech, becoming the first Pitt tandem to advance to that round in the prestigious tournament.
The fall season will conclude with a trip to Cambridge, Mass., for the Harvard Invitational Nov. 6-8. At last year’s invitational, Ogungbesan and Washington worked their way through doubles, going 2-1 on the weekend, but fell in the semifinals.
“We like the team chemistry, intelligence, and strong bond around a common goal,” Santos said. “Hopefully we will be able to keep building on that.”
For all things Pitt tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @PittTennis.