Panthers Dominate Day Two of Vartabedian Invite

Saturday, January 16

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1:00 PM

Pitt

Miami (OH)

Panthers Dominate Day Two of Vartabedian Invite

1/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Jan. 16, 2016

PITTSBURGH - The Pitt tennis team continued its strong showing at the Nishan Vartabedian Spring Invite Saturday afternoon as the squad faced Miami (OH). Three Pitt doubles teams collected wins, while five Panthers recorded singles victories.

"I think this weekend has been awesome in terms of having a lot of matches and freedom," head coach Alex Santos said. "Everyone got their feet wet, which is what we wanted to see at this point. I think the girls are starting to be more accountable in understanding the preparation and the way you compete at this level."

The duo of junior Lolade Ogungbesan and redshirt senior Amber Washington continued their winning ways as they downed Nelli Ponomareva and Nastia Vasyukhina, 6-1.

Junior Audrey Ann Blakely and freshman Gabriela Rezende battled through a doubles match that was tied five times, but came out on top 7-6.

Sophomore Callie Frey and freshman Carina Ma also had a strong showing this afternoon as they never trailed in their doubles match, taking a 6-2 win.

In singles action, Blakely only dropped one game to Ponomareva en route to a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Although never trailing, Washington gave up three games in her first set against Vasyukhina, taking the set 6-3. Washington then trailed early in the second set, but tied it 2-2 and never looked back, coming out with a 6-2 win.

Freshman Clara Lucas made her spring debut this afternoon and did not disappoint. Lucas' first set featured four ties and her winning the tiebreaker, 7-5. She trailed the majority of the second set but took the lead after reaching 4-4 and finished the set 6-4.

Ogungbesan struggled early in singles as she dropped the first set 4-6 to Badileanu, but bounced back to take the second set 6-2. She claimed the match after a 6-3 win in the final set.

Frey was the last Panther to collect a win today as she won the tiebreaker in back-to-back sets, 7-4, 7-6, over Shapovalov.

"We definitely have a strong base in doubles and singles to work on," Santos said.

Pitt will wrap up the Nishan Vartabedian Spring Invite tomorrow at noon as it faces Akron.

For all things Pitt tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @PittTennis.

DOUBLES

Ogungbesan/Washington (P) def. Ponomareva/Vasyukhina (M), 6-1

Blakely/Rezende (P) def. Shteyn/Shapovalova (M), 7-6

Frey/Ma (P) def. Badileanu/Struble (M), 6-2

SINGLES

Blakely (P) def. Ponomareva (M), 6-0, 6-1

Ogungbesan (P) def. Badileanu (M), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3

Frey (P) def. Shapovalov (M), 7-4, 7-6