SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - With a spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament championship match at stake, the Slippery Rock University women's tennis team will meet Millersville University in a semifinal bout 1 p.m. Friday at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the campus of Bloomsburg University.
 
LIVE COVERAGE
In-match results will be provided by the SRU Women's Tennis program at the below link.
 
MATCH 20 DETAILS
Opponent: Millersville University
Date: Friday – 1 p.m.
Location: Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
Venue: Burt Reese Tennis Center
Live Results: Link
All-Time Series: SRU leads 16-11
Last Played: April 29, 2022 (SRU won 4-0)
 
PSAC TOURNAMENT FORMAT
The top three teams in the PSAC East and PSAC West standings qualified for the 2024 PSAC Tournament. The No. 2 seed in each division will host the third seed from its respective division in quarterfinal matches this week. The winners from those matches move on to cross over and play the top seed from the other division Friday in the PSAC Tournament semifinals.
 
The semifinals and championship matches will be held at Bloomsburg University. The conference championship match is slated to take place Saturday.
 
Under PSAC Tournament rules, doubles and singles matches shall be played in a "Clinch-Clinch" format. Doubles competition will cease when a team point is clinched. Singles matches will cease when a team has clinched the match with four total points.
 
In the PSAC West, Indiana University (Pa.) earned the top seed in the division followed by The Rock as the second seed and Mercyhurst as the third seed. Millersville University is the top seed out of the PSAC East with West Chester University and Bloomsburg University rounding out the top three seeds.
 
QUARTERFINAL RECAP
Both PSAC Tournament quarterfinal matches saw the higher seeded team advance. In the Western Division, Slippery Rock downed Mercyhurst, 4-1, while West Chester shutout Bloomsburg in a 4-0 decision.
 
With its win, West Chester moves on to face Indiana (Pa.) Saturday in the other semifinal match.
 
PSAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Quarterfinals
#2W Slippery Rock def. #3W Mercyhurst (4-1)
#2E West Chester def. #3E Bloomsburg (4-0)
BYES: Indiana (Pa.) / Millersville
 
Semifinals
#2W Slippery Rock vs. #1E Millersville (1 p.m. / Friday)
#2E West Chester vs. #1W Indiana (1 p.m. / Friday)
 
Finals
SRU / MU vs. IUP / WCU (1 p.m. Saturday)
 
HOW THEY GOT HERE
Slippery Rock enters the semifinals as one of the hottest teams in the region with seven straight wins which has improved its record to 13-6 overall. The Rock's semifinal win over Mercyhurst marked the program's seventh postseason victory in the last three seasons.  
 
Millersville earned a first-round bye in the PSAC Tournament after completing the regular season with a perfect 7-0 league record, and an overall mark of 15-7, to become the PSAC East regular season champions.
 
PSAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Slippery Rock is in its sixth consecutive trip to the PSAC Tournament. SRU has won three PSAC championships all-time with league titles coming in 1980, 1981 and 2003.
 
SRU has advanced to the conference championships finals in three of the last four seasons the event has been held with its most recent trip to final match coming a year ago in a 4-1 loss to Indiana (Pa.).
 
Millersville has won five league titles in the program's history with its last championship occurring in 2002.
 
Friday's match will serve as the fifth contest between The Rock and Marauders in the PSAC Tournament with each team earning two wins previously including a 4-0 SRU victory in the 2022 PSAC Tournament semifinals.
 
Slippery Rock vs. Millersville (PSAC Tournament)
2022: Slippery Rock 4 – Millersville 0
2007: Slippery Rock 5 – Millersville 0
2004: Millersville 5 – Slippery Rock 4
2001: Millersville 5 – Slippery Rock 1
 
A LOOK AT THE ATLANTIC REGION RANKINGS
• Slippery Rock remained positioned in third place in the most recent set of Atlantic Region rankings released Wednesday behind Charleston and Indiana (Pa). Mercyhurst was ranked fourth followed by Fairmont State, Millersville, West Virginia Wesleyan, Frostburg State and Shaw.
                                                                                                                    
• Conference Tournament champions from the PSAC, Mountain East Conference and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association as well as the next four highest ranked teams in the region at the end of year qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
 
• The NCAA will unveil the complete 48-team tournament field 8:30 p.m. May 6 on NCAA.com.
 
• While an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament is already all-but ensured for Slippery Rock, it is likely that SRU needs to win the PSAC Tournament championship to jump into one of the top two seeds as two of SRU's Division II losses this season have come against Charleston and IUP.
 
• Millersville meanwhile appears to be firmly on the bubble of NCAA Tournament contention. A win against Slippery Rock would not only keep its conference title hopes alive, but more than likely be enough to clinch an at-large bid for the Marauders regardless of the championship match results.
 
• SRU has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in six of the last seven years that a full season has been completed.
 
• The full set of NCAA regional rankings can be found HERE.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Slippery Rock has won 13 consecutive matches against Millersville and is now 16-11 all-time versus the Marauders. SRU has not lost to Millersville since 2005 and is currently on a run of eight consecutive shutout victories in the series.
 
The Rock and Millersville last met during the 2021-22 season. SRU took a regular season match from MU, 7-0, and later recorded a 4-0 victory against Millersville in the PSAC Tournament semifinals.
 
Three current Rock athletes competed in the 2022 matches as Gabriela del Val del Toro was a perfect 2-0 in singles matches while Nuria Martin Lopez and Georgie Lancaster each earned victories in the regular season shutout.
 
BATTLE TESTED
Despite only having two seniors, Slippery Rock has a wealth of postseason experience up and down its roster. Outside of freshman Nicole Kempton, every member of SRU's 2024 roster has competed in – and won – in the postseason already in their careers during either conference tournament or NCAA Tournament competition.
 
 SRU Records in the Postseason (PSAC / NCAA Tournament)
• Gabriela del Val del Toro: 6-3
• Nuria Martin Lopez: 4-1
• Dari Sakhanova: 3-2
• Georgie Lancaster: 2-1
• Amaia Balaguer Brau*: 1-1
• Tina Slovak / Sakhanova: 4-0
• Martin Lopez / del Val del Toro: 3-3
 
* at Saint Thomas Aquinas
 
ANOTHER WINNING SEASON SECURED
No matter how the rest of the season plays out, SRU has now finished with a .500 or better winning percentage in 22 of 26 seasons under head coach Matt Meredith.
 
STREAKING
It has been nearly a calendar month since Slippery Rock last lost a match. It's seven-match winning streak marks the longest string of consecutive wins for a Rock team since the 2012 team posted nine straight victories.
 
• The pairing of Gabriela del Val del Toro and Nuria Martin Lopez have won nine straight doubles matches which is tied for the eighth longest in documented program history.  
 
• Individually, Tina Slovak and Dari Sakhanova both bring personal seven-match winning streaks into the Millersville match while Amaia Balaguer Brau is a winner in her last six complete matches and Martin Lopez has tallied four consecutive wins.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK PRIMER
• Stats: Link
• Roster: Link
• Overall Record: 13-6
• Atlantic Region Rankings: 3rd
• PSAC West Seed: No. 2
• Home Record: 8-0
• Away Record: 3-3
• Neutral Site Record: 2-3
• Streak: W7
• Last Five Matches: 5-0
• Head Coach: Matt Meredith | 26th season (376-212, .637)
 
SCOUTING THE ROCK
Last Time Out: Slippery Rock pushed its winning streak to seven matches and punched its ticket to the PSAC Tournament semifinals with a 4-1 quarterfinal victory over Mercyhurst.
 
• Amaia Balaguer Brau – the No. 70 singles athlete in Division II in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings - anchors Slippery Rock's singles lineup by going 16-9 overall and 12-5 in first-flight matches.
 
• Gabriela del Val del Toro, who is The Rock's fifth winningest athlete in program history with 138 career victories (singles + doubles), is closing her career with a stellar senior campaign in which she has produced a 16-8 overall record and a 11-5 mark when playing from the second flight.
 
• Dari Sakhanova has won 11 of her 16 third flight matches this season on the way to a 15-9 overall record. After a slow start to the year, Sakhanova has earned wins in eight of her last 11 outings.
 
• With a 14-6 overall record and a 6-3 mark out of the fourth flight, Nicole Kempton is making a strong push to earn PSAC West Freshman of the Year accolades.
 
• Tina Slovak continued her breakout year by tallying another big win in The Rock's quarterfinal match against Mercyhurst. She is now 14-2 overall and 7-1 when competing in the fifth flight.
 
• Since returning from an injury that sidelined her for much of the year, Nuria Martin Lopez is a perfect 3-0 in sixth-flight matches which has pushed her record to 9-6 overall this season.
                                                                                                                                                   
• Balaguer Brau and Kempton make up The Rock's top doubles team. The first-year partners have gone 11-8 overall.
 
• Now in their second year as a team, Slovak and Sakhanova are a healthy 10-7 in dual matches this season thanks in no small part to a perfect 5-0 PSAC West record.
 
• SRU's senior duo of del Val del Toro and Martin Lopez are 11-2 when teaming together, including a 10-1 effort out of the third flight.
 
MILLERSVILLE PRIMER
• Stats: Link
• Roster: Link
• Overall Record: 15-7
• Atlantic Region Rankings: 6th
• PSAC East Seed: No. 1
• Home Record: 8-1
• Away Record: 6-3
• Neutral Site Record: 1-3
• Streak: W6
• Last Five Matches: 5-0
• Head Coach: Matt Helsel
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Marauders earned a 7-0 victory in its regular season finale April 28 over Lock Haven.
 
PROBABLE LINEUP (DUAL MATCH RECORD)
Singles
1-Noelle Htwar (10-8)
2-Hui Jen Soo (9-11)
3-Chloe Abramowitz (12-10)
4-Sido Rault (16-6)
5-Lauren Hayes (14-2)
6-Sophie Lanius (13-5)
Doubles
1-Htwar / Jen Soo (9-8)
2-Abramowitz / Rault (14-7)
3-Hayes / Lanius (9-3)
 
UP NEXT
If Slippery Rock were to beat Millersville it would advance to the PSAC Tournament championship match 1 p.m. Sunday where SRU would face either West Chester or Indiana (Pa.).
 
If The Rock loses to Millersville their season still likely isn't over as they would be heavy favorites to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.




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