Results
 
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team earned a 7-0 victory over the University of Sioux Falls Tuesday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
 
Tuesday's win improves The Rock's record to 4-3 on the season overall and 3-1 against Division II competition. USF drops to 4-4 with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock opened the match by quickly earning the doubles point by way of wins out of the first and third flights.
 
The Rock's top doubles team of Amaia Balaguer Brau and Nicole Kempton got SRU started strong via a 6-0 victory against their USF counterparts Talia Janos and Chloe Siegfort.
 
SRU went on to lock up the doubles point when Nuria Martin Lopez and Gabriela del Val del Toro downed Alissa Thorfinnson and Danielle Thorfinnson, 6-2. Martin Lopez and del Val del Toro have now won two straight matches and four of their last five contests overall.  
 
While it had no impact on the team score, the Cougars were able to avoid the complete shutout on the day as Ella Hancock and Sydney Osburn narrowly edged Dari Sakhanova and Tina Slovak, 7-5, in the second flight.
 
The Rock carried over their momentum from the doubles portion of the match by firing off six consecutive victories in singles competition en route to SRU's first 7-0 win of 2024.
 
Kempton logged the first singles win of the match as she continued her stellar rookie campaign with a 6-2, 6-0 victory form the fifth flight against Hancock followed by her doubles partner - Balaguer Brau - beating Janos from the top flight 6-1, 6-1.
 
SRU's only two newcomers to the roster from a season ago have made excellent additions to the lineup with Balaguer Brau sporting a 9-5 record while on a three-match winning streak and Kempton winning seven of her first 10 collegiate matches.
 
del Val del Toro, the 53rd-ranked singles athlete in all of Division II, proceeded to clinch the match for SRU courtesy of a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Siegfort out of the second flight.
 
The remainder of the match saw Slippery Rock post wins from the third, sixth and fourth flights, respectively, with Sakhanova defeating Danielle Thorfinnson (6-2, 6-0), Georgie Lancaster bettering Jaelyn Haler (6-3, 6-1) and Martin Lopez capping the day off via a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Osburn.
 
Sakhanova has now won consecutive singles matches to pull her record in 2023-24 to the .500 mark at 6-6.
 
Slippery Rock continues its spring break schedule 6:30 p.m. Thursday against Texas A&M Kingsville at the USTA National Campus.





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