BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team fell 4-2 to No. 49 Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship match.
 
Saturday's match began outside at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the campus of Bloomsburg University before being halted midway through the singles portion of the day and being moved indoors to the Central PA Tennis Center in Williamsport, Pennsylvania due to inclement weather.
 
The Crimson Hawks, which entered the championship ranked No. 2 in the NCAA Atlantic Region rankings, claimed their fourth straight PSAC title and improved to 14-8 overall with the victory. Slippery Rock, which entered the match ranked No. 3 in the Atlantic Region, drops to 14-7 following the loss.
 
The Rock are still a virtual lock to earn a high seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament and will officially find out their postseason fate May 6 at 8:30 p.m. when the NCAA airs the Division II Women's Tennis Selection Show on NCAA.com. SRU is expected to hear its name called as one of the 48 teams to make the national playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
 
Indiana earned the all-important doubles point to begin the match after capturing wins from the first and second flights.
 
In what was the first recorded result of the match, Ming Deewajee and Daniela Ramos – the 44th ranked doubles team in the nation – defeated Amaia Balaguer Brau and Nicole Kempton, 6-1.
 
SRU countered the defeat by earning a victory of its own from the third flight where Tina Slovak and Dari Sakhanova bested Hannah Beitat and Veronica Sirci in a 6-3 decision.
 
However, the Crimson Hawks were ultimately able to tally the first team point of the match after Katy Graydon and Lydia Vlachou came away with a 6-4 win against The Rock's senior pairing of Nuria Martin Lopez and Gabriela del Val del Toro in second-flight competition.
 
Following the location change, Balaguer Brau finished off her singles win from the first flight in 6-2, 6-2 fashion over Deewajee to pull SRU back into a 1-1 tie with Indiana.
 
The Rock and Crimson Hawks went on to trade 7-6, 6-2 victories with Vlachou narrowly edging Kempton out of the fourth flight and Slovak beating Sirci in fifth-flight play.
 
However, The Rock's bid for a conference tournament championship ended there as Indiana went on to clinch the match with back-to-back victories by Ramos over Sakhanova (6-4, 6-4) in the third flight and Graydon against del Val del Toro (7-5, 6-4) at second singles.
 
Slippery Rock will learn its NCAA Tournament seeding and the date, location and opponent for its first-round match during the NCAA Selection Show May 6 at 8:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.