Bradford, PA -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Women's Tennis team clinched a post season berth on Friday night with a 5-1 victory over LaRoche University. The Panthers will return to post season play after missing the AMCC Tournament in 2018.
Pitt-Bradford was able to pick up two points early, as they won the matches at #1 and #3 doubles. Reigning AMCC Player of the Week Jessica Jordan and Caroline Hance made quick work of their opponents in the third pairing, as they cruised to an 8-0 victory. The match-up in the #1 grouping was very even as neither team was able to open up a commanding lead. Things looked bleak for the Panther pair of Rebecca Jordan and Elanie Robert after they were unable to close out the match at 7-6 and fell behind 3-1 in the tiebreaker. The two were able to respond however, picking up 6 of 7 straight points to seal their victory.
The Panthers were able to close the deal on the match early in singles play. Taking advantage of mismatches in the lower pairings, Pitt-Bradford was able to pick up shutout wins at #3, #5 and #6 singles to seal the victory. Jessica Jordan and Caroline Hance continued their strong and decisive play as they both won their singles matches 6-0, 6-0 before the other two doubles matches came to an end. Abbie Buerkle was able to finish off the win with a quick 6-0, 6-0 victory at the #3 poisiton. With the match decided and temperatures dropping with the setting sun, both teams agreed to forgo finishing the remaining singles matches as they would not effect the final results.
Looking forward, Pitt-Bradford will finish their regular season on Saturday, October 4th at home against Penn State Altoona. The result of the match will effect the team's final seedings in the AMCC Tournament as a Panther win will move them to the 5 seed, and a loss keeps them in the 6th position. The match will begin at 1:00 PM on the Tennis Courts at the Kessel Athletic Complex.