Box ScoreWEST CHESTER, Pa. – West Chester captured two of the doubles and the first three singles matches to finish en route to a 5-1 victory over visiting Kutztown in the quarterfinals of the 2014 PSAC Women's Tennis Championships Monday on South Campus.
Making their fourth playoff appearance in the last five years, West Chester (10-9) advances to the conference semifinals for the second time in school history since the PSAC moved to the current team play format in 2004. Kutztown (9-7) dropped its second match to West Chester in the past week with the loss.
The host Golden Rams picked up wins in doubles play at the first and third spots. Maddy Shaak and Nicole Fahringer teamed up for an 8-6 win over Hannah Pipkin and Tori Zander. Stephanie CIfarelli teamed with Cassidy Branigan at third doubles for an 8-3 win over Cindy Good and Erika Diffendall.
Fahringer then dispatched Zander in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to put West Chester up 3-1 in the match. Branigan, the reigning PSAC East athlete of the week, knocked off Alyssa Konis at third singles, 6-1, 6-1, and the Rams moved out to a commanding 4-1 lead.
Jami Dumler then scored a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Diffendall at sixth singles to end the match early and propel West Chester into the PSAC semifinals for the first time since 2009.
West Chester was well in control at both fourth and fifth singles while first singles was in the third set when the match was halted.
The Golden Rams, seeded second out of the PSAC Eastern Division, advances to play the Western Division regular-season champion and 12th-ranked, California, Pa., on Thursday at 3 p.m. on South Campus. The other semifinal will pit Eastern Division champion, Bloomsburg, against PSAC West second seed Indiana (Pa.), who defeated Mercyhurst, 5-1, in the other conference quarterfinal on Monday. Those semifinal matches will take place simultaneously, after the men's semifinals are contested beginning at 9 a.m.
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