KUTZTOWN, Pa. – West Chester University’s women’s tennis team will take a step it has never taken on Tuesday when the Golden Rams travel to Kutztown University for a quarterfinal round match of the PSAC Women’s Tennis Tournament.
West Chester (13-7, 3-2 PSAC East) battles Kutztown (9-9, 3-2) at 3:30 p.m. at Keystone Tennis Courts on the campus of Kutztown University. The winner advances to the PSAC semifinals to play West Division No. 1 seed California (Pa.) this weekend at Bloomsburg University. This is the first year that West Chester has qualified for the postseason women’s tennis tournament since the conference adopted the dual-match tournament format in 2004.
Mercyhurst is at Slippery Rock in the other quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday in the Western Division. Regular-season division champions California (Pa.) and Bloomsburg received byes to the semifinals.
“It’s very exciting,” West Chester head coach Tina Tharp said when asked about this year’s squad making history at the school. “I hope the girls take this opportunity and seize the moment on the court.”
Kutztown thought it had defeated West Chester, 5-4, during the school’s regular-season meeting on March 31. However, the Golden Rams protested the Bears’ lineup used in the match and that protest was upheld, turning the score to 5-4 in favor of West Chester.
Now, three weeks later, the two sides meet again with another chance to settle things on the court. Only two of the six projected singles matchups are rematches from the regular season. The matchup at No. 1 singles pits Rohini Das of Kutztown against Brittany Counts. Das was a 6-1, 6-1 winner in March. At No. 6 singles, West Chester’s Teresa Grasso downed Rachel Grula, 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.
A little international flavor will be added to the rivalry at No. 2 singles where Kutztown throws Ridhima Borooah (India) up against Luisi Souto (Venezuela) of West Chester. Borooah played third singles when the two programs met earlier in the year.
Sabrina Arnaud, who played at No. 2 singles in the regular-season meeting, drops down to No. 3 where she will face Ali Fetter. Nicole Devine takes on Claire Afrassiabian at No. 4 singles. Afrassiabian is a perfect 16-0 on the year in dual matches, including 12-0 in the fourth spot.
Kutztown’s Megan Groh faces off against Kara Shumock from West Chester at fifth singles.
