The Slippery Rock University tennis team blanked Seton Hill University 7-0 Thursday at Penn Trafford High School as head coach Matt Meredith secured his 400th win at The Rock.
The eight-time PSAC Coach of the Year led the team to their third consecutive victory, including back-to-back shut outs over conference opponents.
Nicole Kempton and Alissia Kivi won their doubles match 6-0, followed by a 6-1 triumph for Tina Slovak and Amaia Balaguer Brau. Kempton and Kivi defeated the Griffins’ Alex Wolf and Carissa Shephard, before Slovak and Balaguer Brau were victorious over Kaylee Kanuka and Alycia Derr.
Both Kempton and Balaguer Brau recently surpassed their 100 career wins last Saturday during matchup against Faimont State.
Dari Sakhanova and Nadi Rodewald won by default, as the Griffins did not have an opponent for them.
Sakhanova, currently with 126 career wins, ended last season ranked as the No. 18 singles athlete in the Atlantic Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
The White and Green’s dominance continued into singles play as Kivi, Balaguer Brau, Sakhanova and Rodewald each overcame their opponents in two sets. Slovak and Anna Poranski won by default.
Sophmores Kivi, Poranski, and Rodewald have tallied one shy of 30 singles victories consecutively.
Senior Slovak tallied her 100th career win earlier this year. She ended last season ranked 11th in ITA’s Atlantic Region singles and fifth in doubled with Balaguer Brau.
Thursday’s victory moves the team to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play as Seton Hill falls to 2-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
SRU will resume play when they host Edinboro at 4 p.m. on April 7 at the SRU tennis courts. The Fighting Scots are 2-6 overall and have yet to play a PSAC West contest due to a postponement of their match with Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Last April, The Rock prevailed over the Fighting Scots 7-0, a victory occurring in the midst of a seven-match win streak that the team kept until the PSAC Championship match.
Meredith has not lost to a PSAC West opponent, besides IUP, since 2019, when the team fell 2-4 to Mercyhurst in the NCAA tournament. The Rock’s former conference foe is now a member of NCAA Division I’s Northeast Conference (NEC).
He will look to continue climbing Division II’s best-ranking coaches as the team approaches its final seven regular season contests, three coming against conference opponents.
