SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The 44th-ranked Slippery Rock University women's tennis team advanced to the semifinal round of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships with a 5-1 quarterfinal win Tuesday afternoon over visiting Mercyhurst College on the SRU outdoor courts.
The win was the 18th in 22 dual matches this season for The Rock, who will now face Bloomsburg in an 11 a.m. semifinal match Saturday on the Huskies' home courts. The other semifinal will pit Kutztown against defending conference champion and eighth-ranked California.
The winners of Friday's semifinal matches will meet in the conference finals at 9 a.m. Saturday. Simultaneously, Friday's semifinal losers will play in the third-place match.
The Rock, who earned a PSAC playoff berth for the fifth straight season and ninth time in the last 10 years, will be making their fourth consecutive appearance in a conference semifinal. SRU lost a 5-3 decision to Bloomsburg in last spring's semfinal round.
In addition to seeking a berth in Saturday's 9 a.m. conference championship match, The Rock will look to avenge one of the blemishes on its 2009-10 record, a 5-4 loss Sept. 20 to Bloomsburg on the Huskies' courts.
In Tuesday's quarterfinal match, The Rock won two of the doubles duels before it claimed wins in the first three singles matches to be played to completion.
A 6-2, 6-2 win by senior
Jessica Hilborn in the No. 5 singles match accounted for the fifth and final Rock point in the match played under a "race-to-5" format.
Sophomores
Dunja Drmac and
Sarah Lynch each had a hand in two Rock points.
Drmac recorded a 6-1, 6-1 win in the No. 3 singles match after she and senior
Laura Handy won an 8-1 decision in the No. 1 doubles match.
Lynch won a 6-0, 6-1 decision in the No. 2 singles match after she and No. 3 doubles partner
Janelle Krantz, a freshman, reigned by an 8-3 score.
Complete results of Tuesday's quarterfinal match were as follows:
DOUBLES
#1 -- Laura Handy /
Dunja Drmac (SRU) def. Kim Ezzo/Meghan Raynor 8-1
#2 -- Rebecca Haener/Kelton Macke (MC) def.
Chelsea Gibson /
Jessica Hilborn 9-8 (6)
#3 -- Sarah Lynch /
Janelle Krantz (SRU) def. Jenna Raynor/Natalie Iovina 8-3
SINGLES
#1 -- Handy (SRU) vs. Ezzo (MC) DNF (Ezzo leading 7-5, 1-2)
#2 -- Lynch (SRU) def. M. Raynor 6-0, 6-1
#3 -- Drmac (SRU) def. Haener 6-1, 6-1
#4 -- Gibson (SRU) vs. Macke (MC) DNF (Gibson leading 6-4, 3-0)
#5 -- Hilborn (SRU) def. J. Raynor 6-2, 6-2
#6 -- Casey Runyan (SRU) vs. Iovina (MC) DNF (Runyan leading 6-3, 5-0)
