SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team will open the spring portion of its 2022-23 season with its annual match against Division III power Carnegie Mellon University 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Oxford Athletic Club in Wexford, Pennsylvania.
 
MATCH 1 DETAILS
Opponent: Carnegie Mellon University
Date: Saturday – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Oxford Athletic Club – S Wexford, Pennsylvania
Live Results: Link
All-Time Series: CMU leads 15-1
Last Played: Feb 4, 2022 (SRU won 4-3)
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
While Carnegie Mellon holds a 15-1 record against The Rock all-time, SRU won the most recent match in the series courtesy of a 4-3 decision a year ago. Slippery Rock earned the victory last season thanks to singles wins by Lois Page, Nuria Martin Lopez, Teddi Isherwood and Zoe Heed.
 
While Page, who is finishing her collegiate career at Minnesota Mankato, and Heed, now a student assistant for SRU, are both no longer on the roster, Martin Lopez and Isherwood are among The Rock's returners in 2022-23.
 
PROGRAM OF CONSISTENT EXCELLENCE
Few programs have been as consistent as Slippery Rock has under head coach Matt Meredith. Dating back to the 2000-01 season, SRU has won 65.1 percent of its matches (329-176), had 19 winning seasons while making 15 PSAC Tournament appearances and earning 17 NCAA Tournament bids.

A LOOK BACK AT 2021-22
As it enters the primary portion of its season, Slippery Rock is coming off a 2021-22 campaign in which it went 16-8 overall and 5-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division.
 
In postseason competition, The Rock advanced to the finals of the PSAC Tournament followed by winning one match in the NCAA Tournament before a season-ending loss in the second round.
 
ROCK RETURNERS
Slippery Rock brings back five athletes from last year's team in Martin Lopez, Isherwood, Adriana Gonzalez Sanchez, Gabriela del Val del Toro and Georgie Lancaster.
 
All five returners have experienced success on the collegiate level headlined by Gonzalez Sanchez – a four-time All-PSAC West honoree and former conference Athlete of the Year – and del Val del Toro – who is a two-time all-league choice.
 
WELCOME TO THE ROCK
New to The Rock this season are freshmen Tina Slovak and Dari Sakhanova. Slovak was with SRU in the fall while Sakhanova is a mid-year transfer from Weatherford College.

FALL RECAP
While The Rock did not compete in a dual match during the fall portion of the 2022-23 season, SRU did take part in four individual tournaments with the highlight being the play of del Val del Toro and Martin Lopez.
 
The duo took doubles runner-up honors at the PSAC Championships while advancing to the quarterfinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region Championships.
 
ITA RANKINGS CHECK
Slippery Rock was well-represented on the initial individual Atlantic Region rankings released by the ITA in November.
 
In the doubles rankings, Martin Lopez and del Val del Toro were ranked fifth in the region while The Rock's singles representatives saw del Val del Toro slotted ninth followed by Gonzalez Sanchez and Martin Lopez back-to-back at No. 13 and No. 14, respectively.
 
MEREDITH PROMINENT ON D2 WINS LISTS
Already the winningest coach in SRU and PSAC history, Meredith will enter his 25th season with The Rock in 2022-23 possessing a 347-197 career record. He ranks 15th in NCAA Division II history for career wins and is the eighth winningest active coach in the country.
 
Wins by Active Head Coaches
1. Mike Perez – Lynn: 675
2. Mark Rosewell - Northwest Missouri - 597
3. Derrick Racine – West Florida: 587
4. Alan Nagel – Queens College: 576
5. Bev Buckley – Rollins: 523
6. Evan Isaacs – Columbus State: 417
7. Sheila Snyder – Wayne State: 410
8. Matt Meredith – Slippery Rock: 347
9. Steve Barsby – Georgia College: 341
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
Roster: Link
Stats: Link
Overall Record: 0-0
Home Record: 0-0
Away Record: 0-0
Neutral Site Record: 0-0
Streak: N/A
Last Five Matches: N/A
Head Coach: Matt Meredith | 25th season at SRU (347-197)

SCOUTING THE ROCK
• del Val del Toro closed the fall season with a 9-3 singles record. She has been one of The Rock's top singles athletes since joining the program in 2020-21 as evidenced by her 46-11 career record. A year ago, she went 26-6 while competing primarily out of the third flight.
 
• Gonzalez Sanchez joins del Val del Toro as Slippery Rock's two most tenured members of the roster. A staple towards the top of SRU's singles lineup over the last two seasons, Gonzalez Sanchez has won 32 singles matches at SRU. She went 6-5 in the fall and was 15-14 overall a year ago.
 
• Thanks in no small part to a dominant 15-5 record in fourth-flight matches, Martin Lopez compiled a 19-9 singles record last year in her first season with The Rock as a transfer from Division I Nicholls State. So far this season, she has strung together a 6-5 record.
 
• Isherwood, who competed in just two matches during the fall season, had one of the most impressive records of any freshman in the Atlantic Region a season ago as she closed her rookie year with a 22-8 overall mark that included a 16-6 showing from the fifth flight in dual matches.
 
• Another member of last year's recruiting class, Lancaster was mostly used in the doubles lineup over The Rock's dual matches as four of her five singles wins during her freshman season came in individual tournaments.
 
• In her initial introduction to collegiate tennis, Slovak, a native of Reading, England, won her first NCAA match earlier in the fall individual season.
 
• Of Slippery Rock's three primary doubles teams from last season, only one has both athletes back on the roster this year as del Val del Toro and Isherwood went 14-10 overall and 10-7 from the second flight in 2021-22.
 
• During the fall season, Martin Lopez and del Val del Toro were 6-4 while Slovak and Gonzalez Sanchez combined for a 2-3 showing in tournaments.

CARNEGIE MELLON PRIMER
Roster: Link
Stats: Link
Overall Record: 2-0
ITA D3 Top-40: 11th
Home Record: 2-0
Away Record: 0-0
Neutral Site Record: 0-0
Streak: W2
Last Five Matches: N/A
Head Coach: Andrew Girard | 20th season at CMU (308-124)
 
SCOUTING THE TARTANS
• The nationally ranked Tartans went 2-0 in the fall and will host Duquesne Friday prior to the Slippery Rock match.
 
• Entering Friday, CMU has eight athletes who have won at least eight matches so far this year in Divya Venkatarama (10-1), Sarah Yang (9-1), Crystal Zhou (9-3), Anika Joshi (9-3), Bin Zheng (8-1), Malikaa Marathe (8-1), Manuela Van Cotthem (8-3) and Zoe Angell (7-2).
 
• The Tartan's dual match wins this season came in the fall in the form of 9-0 wins over Washington & Jefferson and Seton Hill.
 
• Carnegie Mellon's singles lineup in the dual matches saw Yang and Zheng each win from the first flight while Angell and Zhou also split second flight showings. The remainder of CMU's singles lineup was consistent over the two matches with Marathe in the third flight followed by Venkatarama, Van Cotthem and Joshi.
 
• The Tartans used six different doubles pairings over its two dual matches.
 
• Nationally, Yang was ranked ninth and Zhou 14th in the ITA's Division 3 Top-50 singles list while Zhou and Danna Taylor were seventh in the doubles rankings.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock competes at St. Bonaventure Feb. 11 in what is another staple of SRU's traditional non-conference schedule.




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