ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team's season came to an end Wednesday following a 4-0 loss to No. 2 Nova Southeastern University in the Round of 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
"I am incredibly proud of this team," said SRU head coach
Matt Meredith. "We competed exceptionally hard against great competition all season and from start to finish our athletes were fantastic representatives of Slippery Rock University on and off the court."
Slippery Rock closes its season with a 15-10 overall record, including a 14-6 showing against fellow Division II competition. The Rock's 2025 NCAA Tournament run not only marked the women's tennis program's first trip to the Round of 16 since 2010, it also served as the first time any Rock team – regardless of sport - made the final site of a Division II NCAA Tournament in 15 years.
Nova Southeastern – the second ranked team in the nation and defending national champions – improve to 23-3 on the season and will now meet either Nebraska-Kearney or Azusa Pacific in the quarterfinals 9 a.m. Thursday.
The Sharks earned the first point of the match in doubles play following wins out of the first and third flights.
In a meeting of nationally ranked pairings, the first flight match between No. 16 Isabella Ciancaglini and Kristyna Hranacova of Nova Southeastern and The Rock's
Nicole Kempton and
Alissia Kivi – the 38th ranked team in Division II – went to the Sharks in a 6-0 decision.
The other completed doubles match saw Ita Habekovic and Julia Moraes best
Georgie Lancaster and
Dari Sakhanova out of the third flight, 6-0.
In addition to finishing the season among the nation's best in the ITA Rankings, Kempton and Kivi also close the year holding a 26-8 overall record. Their 26 wins is tied for the fourth most in single-season program history.
Nova Southeastern finished off the win in the singles portion of the match with wins from the first, fifth and sixth flights.
The top flight match resulted in Hranacova, the third ranked singles athlete in the nation, earning a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the No. 44
Amaia Balaguer Brau.
Wednesday's match completed what was one of the best individual seasons in program history for Balaguer Brau, who went 27-10 overall while earning her second consecutive Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Athlete of the Year honor and being selected as the ITA's Atlantic Region Athlete to Watch.
The back portion of the singles rotation included Noemie Dadoun defeating Sakhanova in the fifth flight and Moraes besting Lancaster (6-0, 6-0) in the sixth flight. Sakhanova will enter her senior year as the 13th winningest athlete in program history with 102 career victories.
While their matches were not completed Wednesday, Kivi (23-8) and Kempton (20-9) both finished the year with 20 singles victories while Kivi was named both the PSAC West Freshman of the Year and ITA Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year. Additionally,
Tina Slovak heads into her senior year in 2026 just three wins away from joining The Rock's 100-win club.
Slippery Rock, which has compiled 21 NCAA Tournament appearances including seven consecutive appearances in the national tournament, figures to once again be in position for another strong year in 2026 as SRU returns all but one athlete from the 2025 roster.
To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).
