BLOOMSBURG, Pa.- After completing an unbeaten run through PSAC East play and capturing its seventh PSAC East Regular Season title since 2015, the West Chester women's tennis team has shifted its attention to a PSAC Semifinal matchup against Slippery Rock on Saturday morning inside the Burt Reese Tennis Center beginning at 10 a.m. for the right to play for a PSAC Championship on Sunday.
This semifinal appearance which the Golden Rams earned via a bye after clinching the Eastern Division crown marks the ninth year in a row that West Chester has reached the Semifinals and the 10
th time overall in head coach
Tina Tharp's tenure at the helm.
Of the Golden Rams seven PSAC East victories this season, West Chester won five of those matches without dropping a point with the lone exceptions being a 6-1 win over East Stroudsburg and a 5-2 victory over Millersville.
Elaina Lee (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) enters play a perfect 6-0 in first singles in East play while
Davica Massaro (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) is 5-0 in the second singles position.
Yuno Oe (Yokohama, Japan/Nihon University Senior High) and
Alyssa Skulsky (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock South) are also unbeaten in singles play this year for West Chester, entering the Semifinals with records of 6-0, including perfect 4-0 records in the fifth and sixth singles spots, respectively. Oe also earned a victory in second and fourth singles this year while Skulsky has also earned wins in the third and fifth singles spots.
In doubles action, Skulsky and
Tori Alexander (Norristown, Pa./Spring Ford) are unbeaten in conference action, entering with a record of 6-0 while the duos of Massaro and
Ana Ochoa (Cipolletti Rio Negro, Argentina/Instituto Fatima) are 5-1 in first doubles with Lee and
Gabriella Lerario Dos Santos (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Dante Alligheiri) entering with a record of 4-1 in the second doubles position.
Slippery Rock returns to the PSAC Semifinals following a victory over Mercyhurst in the PSAC Quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. The Rock needed both the doubles point (wins in first and third doubles) and all six singles matches (wins in third, fourth, and sixth singles) to advance to the Semifinals over the Lakers.
Slippery Rock, the third ranked team in the Atlantic Region, is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the PSAC Tournament Semifinals by virtue of the victory over Mercyhurst a day ago.
West Chester is 1-6 against Slippery Rock dating back to the 2008 season with lone victory coming on a neutral court as West Chester pulled off a 5-4 win over the Rock in October of the 2015-16 season. In recent meetings, West Chester has gone 0-3 vs its Western Division foe, however, the Golden Rams have played their foes tight in these meetings, including a narrow 4-3 setback during the 2019 season.
Adriana Gonzalez Sanchez has played well at first singles for the Rock this season, going 6-2 in her last eight matches, although she is just 17-15 overall. Gabriela del Val del Toro enters with a record of 26-7 on the year, including a mark of 17-4 at second singles and a 5-1 record in PSAC West matches while Dari Sakhanova is 14-6 on the year at third singles for the Rock.
In doubles play, Gonzalez Sanchez and Teddi Isherwood are 12-7 at first doubles, including a crucial win a day ago while Nuria Martin Lopez and Del Toro are 14-5 in second doubles with Sakhanova and Tina Slovak playing to a record of 15-3 in the third doubles spot.
