PITTSBURGH (Sep. 15, 2014) – The Saint Francis U women's tennis team competed against Carnegie Mellon, Bucknell, and Duquesne on Friday as it kicked off the fall campaign with the three-day Carnegie Mellon Invitational. 

Collectively, the Flash won three of the nine doubles matches and eight of the 18 singles matches it contested. 

Senior Shivani Patel (Leicestershire, England/Repton School) had a successful outing for the Red Flash, winning two of her three singles matches. She then teamed up with junior Rafaela Panizza (Jundiai, Brazil) to pick up one more win, 6-2, against Bucknell's Maria Cioffi and Stephanie Pino.

"This was a pretty good start for the girls," said head coach Rob Castille. "There is definitely a lot of room for improvement in several areas and we will focus on those things these next two weeks. For example, I don't think we handled the pressure of the new format (no-ad scoring) so that is something we will do more of in practice and hopefully by the end of the Fall season, the girls will feel more confident with the change. But aside from a few lopsided matches, I thought the girls competed well and we are about where I thought we would be at this point in the season."

Dani Gryckiewicz also picked up three wins (two singles, one doubles) on the weekend.

Saint Francis returns to action on Sep. 26 when it takes part in the Bucknell Invitational.


Doubles
    1. PATEL/PANIZZA (SFU) def. CIOFFI, Maria/PINO, Stephanie (BU) 6-2
    2. JASSO/JENTZ (SFU) def. MElCH, Madeline/BUSH, Emilie (BU) 6-3
    3. GRYCKIEWICZ/DIAZ (SFU) def. PARKS, Melissa/FOX, Jorie (BU) 6-4
    4. SHASHURA, Sarah/ISAACS, Kylie (DU) def. PATEL/PANIZZA (SFU) 6-2
    5. MILLER, Alexa/MILLER, Ally (DU) def. JASSO/JENTZ (SFU) 7-6, 7-5
    6. CONSONERY, Chandler/WASSON, Megan (DU) def. GRYCKIEWICZ/DIAZ (SFU) 7-6, 9-7
    7. CHANG, Stacy/PAVIA, Vanessa (CMU) def. PATEL/PANIZZA (SFU) 8-3
    8. SIDELL, Cori/RASCHKE, Bryn (CMU) def. JASSO/JENTZ (SFU) 6-2
9. UTKIN, Lydia/NARAYAN, Kalyani (CMU) def. DIAZ/GRYCKIEWICZ (SFU) 9-8, 7-3

Singles
    1. PATEL (SFU) def. PRATT, Angela (CMU) 8-4
    2. UTKIN, Lydia (CMU) def. DIAZ (SFU) 8-0
    3. GRYCKIEWICZ (SFU) def. FOX, Jorie (BU) 9-7
    4. JENTZ (SFU) def. LANE, Allison (BU) 8-6
    5. CIOFFI, Maria (BU) def. PANIZZA (SFU) 9-7
    6. CHANG, Stacy (CMU) def. JASSO (SFU) 8-4
    7. ISAACA, Kylie (DU) def. PANIZZA (SFU) 8-1
    8. PATEL (SFU) def. MELCH, Madeline (BU) 8-4
    9. TORRES, Nicholle (CMU) def. JASSO (SFU) 8-3
    10. GRYCKIEWICZ (SFU) def. SCHNEIDER, Christie (BU) 8-1
    11. NARAYAN, Kalyani (CMU) def. JENTZ (SFU) 8-4
    12. BUSH, Emilie (BU) def. DIAZ (SFU) 8-6
    13. PANIZZA (SFU) def. PRATT, Angela (CMU) 8-5
    14. SIDELL, Cori (CMU) def. PATEL (SFU) 8-3
    15. JENTZ (SFU) def. TSU, Brooke (CMU) 8-3
    16. JASSO (SFU) def. MILLER, Ally (DU) 9-8, 7-3
    17. MITROVIC, Sara (DU) def. DIAZ (SFU) 8-1
    18. WASSON, Megan (DU) def. PANIZZA (SFU) 8-3