SAINT LEO, Fla. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team continued its winning ways Wednesday with a 5-2 road victory at Saint Leo University at the Saint Leo Tennis Center.
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improved its record to a perfect 4-0. The loss moved Saint Leo's record to 5-6. SRU's start to 2025-26 is its best start to a year since winning five straight matches to start the 2011-12 season.
 
The Rock and Lions traded 6-3 wins in the top two doubles flights to open the match as 34th-ranked Nicole Kempton and Alissia Kivi downed Camila Keller and Deren Ozel in the first slot while Madelyn Martin and Candice Bernier bettered Tina Slovak in Amaia Balaguer Brau in the second flight.
 
With the first team point of the match hanging in the balance, Slippery Rock's third doubles pairing of Nadia Rodewald and Dari Sakhanova continued their dominance via a 6-4 point-clinching win over Sophia Johnson and Nicol Novak. The Rock's lone first-year pairing are now a stellar 12-1 in 2026.
 
After helping The Rock to a win at No. 1 doubles, Kivi – the reigning Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Athlete of the Week -registered the first singles victory of the afternoon via a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 decision versus Bernier. The win vaulted Kivi's personal record to 12-2 on the year.
 
The Rock stretched their advantage out to 3-0 courtesy of Rodewald's 6-2, 6-4 triumph out of out of the sixth flight against Allie Fernandini. Wednesday's win pushes Rodewald's record back to the .500 mark at 6-6.
 
Saint Leo kept the pressure on SRU as the hosts logged wins out of the first and third flights to cut The Rock's lead to 3-2. Ozel – the No. 67 singles athlete in Division II – defeated Balaguer Brau (6-2, 6-2) and Keller earned a win against Kempton (6-1, 6-3).
 
However, any thoughts of rally were ended when Sakhanova posted a 6-2, 6-2 win out of the fifth flight against Arianna Bettinelli to earn the match-clinching point for The Rock. Sakhanova has now won four straight matches, improving her record to 9-3.
 
With the team decision already locked in, the day ended with Slovak grabbing another win as she and Novak went to a super tiebreaker in the fourth flight that ultimately went to Slovak who rallied for a hard-fought (5-7, 6-2, 10-2) victory. Slovak has now won four of her first six matches in 2025-26.
 
Slippery Rock finishes its spring break trip 11 a.m. Friday against No. 44 Agnelo State University at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
 
 
 



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