INDIANA, Pa. - In a meeting of nationally ranked programs, the No. 39 Slippery Rock University women's tennis team lost a close Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division match Wednesday at No. 32 Indiana University (Pa.), 4-3.
 
Wednesday's loss moves The Rock's record to 9-3 overall and 4-1 inside the PSAC West. IUP's narrow victory improved the Crimson Hawks' record to 14-6 overall and 4-0 in league matches. Wednesday's result marked the fourth consecutive 4-3 decision in the series between Slippery Rock and Indiana.
 
For the 11th time in its 12 matches this season, Slippery Rock earned the team doubles point with Wednesday's result coming via wins out of the first and second flights.
 
The Rock's nationally ranked top doubles pairing of Nicole Kempton and Alissia Kivi – the No. 29 team in Division II – first beat Annemiek Sterk and Maria Moskaltsova in 6-0 shutout fashion followed by Tina Slovak and Amaia Balaguer Brau earning a point-clinching 6-3 win over Hannah Beitat and Asel Calbay .
 
While it had no effect on the overall team score, IUP's No. 3 doubles team of Isabelle Oikawa Torres and Charliz Tabili were able to defeat SRU's Nadia Rodewald and Dari Sakhanova (6-1).  
 
Kempton and Kivi are now 18-9 on the season as a team. Balaguer Brau and Slovak hold an equally impressive 14-4 record. Both duos are 9-3 in dual matches.
 
Slippery Rock and Indiana opened the singles portion of the match trading victories.
 
Kivi first downed Calbay 6-1, 6-2 from the second flight before IUP earned wins out of the first (Lea von Kozierowski over Balaguer Brau 6-2, 6-2) and fifth (Ifigeneia Kafka over Sakhanova 6-0, 6-3) flights only for Rodewald to take a 6-1, 6-2 win from the sixth slot against Beitat to give SRU a 3-2 lead.
 
As is the case in nearly every IUP-SRU meeting, Wednesday's match came down to the wire as both of the final two contested singles flights went to a tiebreaker.
 
Indiana was ultimately able to pull off the team victory as Moskaltsova defeated Kempton in the third flight (6-2, 2-6, 6-3) and Tabili took the fourth-flight point from Slovak (2-6, 6-3, 6-3).
 
Kivi holds an 18-4 record in singles competition while Rodewald has now won nine straight singles bouts, improving to 14-6 in the process.
 
Prior to Wednesday's match the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Committee released its first set of Atlantic Region rankings which are used to determine the eventual 2026 NCAA Tournament field.
 
Both The Rock and IUP were included in the first batch of rankings which were listed in alphabetical order with no numerical ranking. The committee will rank the teams in numerical order for the first time with the second set of regional rankings, which will be announced April. 22.
 
Slippery Rock next steps out of PSAC West competition for two matches Saturday at the University of Charleston and Sunday at West Virginia Wesleyan College. Both Charleston and West Virginia Wesleyan were listed alongside SRU and IUP in the first set of regional rankings released Wednesday.




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