EDINBORO, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team clinched a berth into the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament when it beat Edinboro, 7-0, Thursday at the Edinboro Tennis Courts.
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improves its record to 10-8 overall and 4-1 inside the PSAC West while Edinboro falls to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in league competition.
 
Thursday's victory ensures SRU can finish no worse than third in the Western Division standings no matter the result of the remainder of the league's mandated schedule. The top three teams in both the PSAC East and PSAC West standings at the conclusion of the regular season earn spots in the conference tournament.
 
While seeding is still to be decided, SRU heads to the conference tournament for the seventh consecutive year in which the event has been held.
 
Additionally, The Rock's win over Edinboro served as Slippery Rock's fourth consecutive shutout performance. The last time SRU posted four consecutive shutouts came during the 2008 campaign.
 
The Rock's latest sweep was a decisive one as SRU cruised through doubles play before registering six singles victories in near flawless fashion.
 
For a sixth consecutive match, The Rock's second-flight team of Amaia Balaguer Brau and Tina Slovak came away victorious as they bested Maria Clara Salomao and Rafaella de Almeida in 6-0 style for the duo's 14th win of the year.
 
Alissia Kivi and Nicole Kempton – the No. 46 doubles team in the country – proceeded to secure the first team point of the day by way of a 6-2 triumph over Sofia Benito and Cecilia Carayol. Kempton and Kivi are now 23-6 on the season overall and 13-4 in first flight action.
 
Georgie Lancaster and Dari Sakhanova closed out the doubles matches by pushing their record above the .500 mark to 8-7 in 2025 via a 6-2 victory over Lara Sener and Luciana Ponce out of the third flight.
 
The first two singles point against the Fighting Scots occurred from the top portion of SRU's lineup with Balaguer Brau blanking Carayol 6-0, 6-0 and Kivi defeating Ponce in similar fashion (6-1, 6-0).
 
Balaguer Brau, who was ranked No. 32 in the latest Division II singles rankings released earlier in the week, has now rattled off nine straight wins to improve to 22-8 on the year while Kivi's win gives the rookie a 19-7 mark.
 
Slovak officially clinched Thursday's team victory when her 6-1, 6-0 win against Sener in the fourth flight accounted for The Rock's fourth point. Slovak's three-match winning streak has stretched her record to 11-9 on the year.
 
With the team win locked down, SRU closed the afternoon with individual victories from the fifth, sixth and third flights.
 
Sakhanova would post a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Almeida while Lancaster bettered Salomao 6-0, 6-3 with Kempton rounding out the trio in a 6-3, 6-3 decision versus Benito
 
With her two wins Thursday, Sakhanova now has 96 for her career - just four away from becoming the 15th athlete in program history record 100 career victories. Lancaster's win, her fourth in as many outings, evens her season record at 11-11 while Kempton has now tallied seven straight wins to move to 17-8 on the year.
 
Slippery Rock will look to maintain its momentum, and solidify it seeding in the upcoming PSAC Tournament in the process, when it finishes the regular season at California (Pa.) 4 p.m. April 23.




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