Since starting their season earlier this month with the Husky Invitational, Slippery Rock women’s tennis went on to compete at the Bucknell University Invitational, where they left with a 12-4 record in their singles and doubles matches against Division I opponents. The weekend continued the strong start to the season as the team rose to the challenge.
The invite was split into multiple brackets. The singles brackets included “Orange”, “Maroon”, “Green” and “Gold”, and the doubles included “Bison”, “Hawks”, “Rocky” and “Flash.”
In the singles competition, The Rock walked away with 12 collective wins. Alissia Kivi led the charge with a perfect 3-0 showing. Nicole Kempton was close behind, supporting a 2-0 record, along with Amaia Balaguer Brau and Dari Sakhanova, each with 2-1.
This is Kivi’s second season with The Rock. As a freshman, she earned both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Freshman of the Year and Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Atlantic Region Rookie of the Year.
When it came to doubles play, the White and Green only lost two of their matches in the Bison bracket to Bucknell University and Lafayette College.
Kivi and Kempton were the only win in the third flight of the Bison bracket.
Last season, the pair recorded their first All-PSAC West recognition in doubles competition. They also made it to the ITA Atlantic Region Championships.
Tina Slovak and Amaia Balaguer Brau swept the Hawks bracket, as well as Nadia Rodewald and Dari Sakhanova in the Rocky bracket.
Slovak and Balaguer Brau also earned their first team All-PSAC West honors and ranked fifth in doubles last season.
This is Rodewald’s first season with The Rock, and she remains undefeated in doubles matches.
The tennis team will continue their invitational portion of the season in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Mellon Invite.
