WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Following a 6-1 run through PSAC East play, the West Chester women's tennis team (8-9, 6-1) returns to action on Wednesday afternoon in the PSAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed opposite No. 3 seed Bloomsburg (8-9, 5-2). West Chester and Bloomsburg were initially slated to square off against one another on Tuesday afternoon but due to the threat of rain moving through the area on Tuesday afternoon the match has been postponed to Wednesday afternoon.
This appearance extends West Chester's streak of making the PSAC Women's Tennis Team Tournament to an impressive nine years as head coach
Tina Tharp's charges have appeared in the Conference Tournament every season dating back to the 2012-13 campaign. A season ago, West Chester earned the top seed in the Tournament as well, earning the right to host second-seeded Millersville in the PSAC Semifinals on South Campus. West Chester battled throughout the afternoon, but it was Millersville who emerged victorious, winning by a final score of 4-3, to advance to the PSAC Tournament Championship match. This semifinal appearance extended the Golden Rams streak of PSAC Semifinal appearances to seven years in a row while serving as Tharp's eighth semifinal appearnace in her time at the helm.
West Chester and Bloomsburg have met once already this season on South Campus, facing off against one another back on April 2
nd with West Chester earning a hard-fought 6-1 victory in this first meeting. West Chester swept the doubles action as
Tori Alexander (Norristown, Pa./Spring Ford) and
Davica Massaro (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) teamed up to win the first doubles (6-3) point while
Elaina Lee (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) and
Gabriella Lerario Dos Santos (Sao Paolo Brazil, Colegia Dante Alighieri) took second doubles (6-4) with
Yuno Oe (Yokohama, Japan/Nihon University Senior High) and
Alyssa Skulsky (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock South) claiming third doubles (7-5). In singles play, Bloomsburg managed to escape with a first singles victory in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) but West Chester held on to win the other five singles matches as the Golden Rams pulled away for a 6-1 victory.
For the year, Massaro, Lee, and Skulsky are all unbeaten in their conference singles matches while the doubles tandem of Skusly and Oe have played to a mark of 5-1 in the third doubles spot with Alexander and Massaro going unbeaten in the first doubles position. Alexander has also been a tough out in conference singles matches, playing to a mark of 4-2 in these matches with her only two setbacks coming against Bloomsburg and top-seed Millersville.
Bloomsburg enters the PSAC Tournament as the three seed and final team from the PSAC East to qualify after posting a record of 5-3 in Eastern Division matches this spring. Lexi Quackenbush, Isabella Sarquis, and Rea Hagishima lead the Huskies with five conference wins each. The duo of Quakenbush and Hagishima have played to a record of 3-0 in league doubles action while Sarquis and Alyssa Mazurek have also teamed up to go 4-0 in doubles play, to help Bloomsburg earn the three-seed in the PSAC Tournament.
With a victory on Wednesday afternoon, West Chester would follow the Huskies back up to Bloomsburg as that will be the site for the Semifinal and Championship rounds of the PSAC Tournament this coming weekend. The semifinals are set to be played on Friday with the winner of this match set to face the top-seed from the Western Division in the IUP Crimson Hawks, who recently completed an unbeaten (6-0) run through PSAC West play this spring. The Crimson Hawks are 15-7 overall and have been led by 2021 PSAC Individual Champion Karolin Kirchtag who won her 29
th singles match of the season last week, and has played to a perfect 6-0 mark in PSAC matches so far this spring. Kirchtag and Katy Gradon teamed up to win the 2021 Doubles Championship in October, and have continued their strong stretch of play, going 4-1 in league matches this spring.
