BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team will play for a league title after defeating Bloomsburg University, 4-0, Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
Slippery Rock's win, which occurred on the Huskies' home courts as Bloomsburg is hosting the tournament, sets up a championship match Saturday against Western Division foe Mercyhurst University, which defeated West Chester University in the tournament's other semifinal match.

The Rock beat the Lakers, 4-3, at home during the regular season.
 
SRU, which is on a five-match winning streak and ranked third in the Atlantic Region, improves its record to 16-7 in 2018-19 with the victory while Bloomsburg ends its season at 15-3.
 
Lauren Fadden and Allie Welch came up huge for The Rock all day. The duo earned a doubles win as well as combining to claim two of The Rock's three singles victories to clinch the team win.
 
The match started with Fadden and Welch beating Siena Cerra and Isabella Sarquis out of the third doubles flight, 6-1. The Rock then secured the team doubles point when Lacey Cohen and Olivia Warner downed Giovanna Bonito and Taylor Capoferri, 6-2, at No. 2 doubles to send The Rock into the singles portion of the contest ahead of the Huskies 1-0.
 
Due to tournament rules, the No. 1 doubles match between Viola Lugmayr / Lois Page and Vitoria Nery / Cassidy Calimer was halted once SRU clinched its doubles point.
 
Fadden kept Slippery Rock's momentum rolling into singles play by besting Cassie Wents in the fifth flight in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-0, to extend The Rock's lead to 2-0. Fadden has now won her last five singles matches and is 16-7 on the season overall.
 
SRU would pick up its third point of the match out of the first flight when Cohen, the reigning PSAC West Athlete of the Week, upended Capoferri 6-0, 6-2. Cohen, who is on a six-match singles winning streak, will enter Saturday's championship match with 99 career victories.
 
Welch, The Rock's lone senior, proceeded to seal the shutout-victory, by producing a 6-0, 6-3 win over Sarquis from the sixth flight to propel Slippery Rock into the championship match. The triumph pushed Welch's overall record in 2018-19 to 12-11.
 
With Slippery Rock's win already guaranteed following Welch's victory, all other singles matches were stopped.
 
Prior to Friday's match, Lugmayr was named the PSAC Champion Scholar as the women's tennis student-athlete with the highest GPA competing in the conference tournament.
 
Weather permitting, Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst will begin the 2019 PSAC Championship match 10 a.m. Saturday at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the Campus of Bloomsburg University. A Rock victory would mark SRU's first PSAC Tournament title since the 2003 season.



To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).