Results
 
BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team defeated Millersville University, 4-0, Friday in the semifinal round of the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the campus of Bloomsburg University.
 
Friday's victory sends The Rock into the PSAC Tournament championship match where it will face Indiana University (Pa.) on Saturday. Slippery Rock will be making its third consecutive appearance in the PSAC Tournament finals.
 
In addition to being The Rock's eighth consecutive victory, Friday's triumph also improves SRU's record to 14-6 overall in 2024 while Millersville drops to 15-8. Entering the contest, SRU was ranked third in the Atlantic Region while the Marauders were fifth.
 
In what has been a familiar trend for The Rock during their impressive winning streak, SRU grabbed the momentum of the match early on by earning the doubles point with wins out of the first and second flights.
 
In the first completed flight of the day, Amaia Balaguer Brau and Nicole Kempton downed Noelle Htwar and Hui Jen Soo, 6-1, from the top doubles slot. The victory marked the first postseason win for the freshman Kempton.
 
The Rock proceeded to secure the doubles point courtesy of another 6-1 win by the senior duo of Gabriela del Val del Toro and Nuria Martin Lopez over Chloe Abramowitz and Sido Rault. Martin Lopez and del Val del Toro have now won 10 consecutive matches.
 
The third flight contest between Dari Sakhanova / Tina Slovak and Lauren Hayes / Sophie Lanius was halted following SRU's second flight win with Sakhanova and Slovak ahead 5-2.
 
Balaguer Brau followed up her doubles victory by claiming Slippery Rock's first singles point of the day courtesy of a 6-2, 6-2 win versus Htwar from the first flight. Balaguer Brau, a three-time PSAC West Athlete of the Week, is now on a personal seven-match winning streak which has increased her record to 17-9.
 
Slippery Rock further moved closer to punching its ticket to the championship match when Martin Lopez bested Lanius 6-1, 6-2 out of the sixth flight. Martin Lopez, who is 11-6 overall in singles matches this year, is yet to lose out of the sixth flight in 2024 (4-0).
 
Slippery Rock officially clinched the semifinal win when Sakhanova beat Abramowitz in third-flight competition 6-1, 6-1. The victory – her eighth in a row – moved Sakhanova into a tie with del Val del Toro for second on the team in singles victories at 16.
 
With Slippery Rock having clinched the match, the bouts in the second, fourth and fifth flights were all stooped. del Val del Toro, Kempton and Slovak had all won their first set and were leading in the second at the time of the stoppage.
 
Slippery Rock and Indiana are currently scheduled to play the 2024 PSAC Tournament championship match 1 p.m. Saturday at the Burt Reese Tennis Center.
 
If weather forces a time or location change, information will be posted as it becomes available on Rockathletics.com and all of SRU's official social media outlets.




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