Women's Tennis | 10/17/2026 11:05:00 PM
TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Three-time defending conference champion Allegheny College will be the top seed and have home court advantage throughout the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Women's Tennis Championship Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal matches on Tuesday, Oct. 20th.
The Tournament format is a seven-point match with three doubles matches and six singles matches. The team that wins two of the three doubles matches receives one (1) point. Each singles match is worth one (1) point. The dual match consists of seven (7) points with the first team winning four (4) points clinching the match and advancing in the tournament.
The opening quarterfinal matches on Tuesday will have No. 3 Washington & Jefferson College (9-4, 6-2 PAC) hosting No. 6 Westminster College (3-8, 3-5 PAC) and No. 5 Geneva College (6-5, 4-4 PAC) traveling to Steubenville, Ohio, to take on No. 4 Franciscan University (9-5, 5-3 PAC).
Top-seeded Allegheny (9-1, 8-0 PAC) and No. 2 Grove City College (10-1, 7-1 PAC) earned byes into the semifinal matches, which the teams will host on Thursday, Oct. 22. The No. 4 Franciscan-No. 5 Geneva quarterfinal winner will go to Meadville to play Allegheny and the victorious team from the No. 3 W&J-No. 6 Westminster quarterfinal will journey to Grove City to take on the Wolverines.
The championship match will be Saturday, Oct. 24th at the highest remaining seed.
Allegheny claimed its third Tournament title in four years last season by defeating W&J 4-0 in the semifinals and Grove City 4-1 in the championship match.
Sixth-year Allegheny head coach Dave Hayden led the Gators to the top seed for the fifth straight season by posting an 8-0 mark in PAC regular season play with all but two of their conference victories being 7-0 sweeps. The Gators have won 40 consecutive PAC regular season matches since coming back to the conference prior to the 2022-23 year.
Last year's PAC Player of the Year, sophomore Gabrielle Bassette (Miami, Fla./Miami Country Day), went a combined 10-2 in PAC matches this year so far, including 6-0 in doubles. The deep Gators' lineup also includes freshmen Chanel Brun (Aix-en-Provence, France/Fox Chapel-Pa.), Claire Terefe (Dallas, Texas/Texas Online Preparatory School) and Jade Flores (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley), who were all 7-0 in PAC singles matches this fall, and junior Adriana Navarro (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/DelCampo School), who was 6-0 in PAC singles action.
Grove City will be trying to claim its PAC-high 32nd conference championship next week. Helping lead the Wolverines into the Tournament is sophomore Grace Yurko (Reisterstown, Md./St. Paul's), who was undefeated in eight PAC singles matches this season, seven coming at No. 2. Two others, including freshman Reagan Dougherty (Bradfordwoods, Pa./Eden Christian) and sophomore Blaire Beatty (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Bloomfield Christian) rolled up 7-1 PAC singles marks, mostly playing at third and fifth singles, respectively.
Helping lead W&J to the third seed and its most PAC wins since 2021 were senior Claire Loomis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and freshman Keira Ross (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park). Loomis was 6-2 in singles matches against PAC opponents playing at second singles and Roos has an identical record playing at No. 5. They'll try to lead the Presidents to the semifinals for the second year in a row against Westminster, who is back in the PAC Tournament after missing it a season ago. Leading the Titans with six singles wins at No. 2 is sophomore Megan Blasko (Mercer, Pa./Pennsylvania Cyber Charter), who also teamed with freshman Amayah Myricks (Canton, Ohio/Jackson) to go 6-2 at No. 2 doubles in PAC matches.
Franciscan, who will be trying to reach the PAC semifinals for the seventh year in a row, features freshman Paige Mattle (Perkasie, Pa./Mount St. Joseph Academy). She was 5-2 in PAC singles play in her first season playing mostly at third singles, and sophomore Colette Park (Alexandria, Va./Seton Home Study), who was 5-3 at No. 2. The Barons will take on a fifth-seeded Geneva program making its second consecutive appearance in the PAC Tournament. The Golden Tornadoes' top player is junior Chloe DeSanzo (Beaver, Pa./Beaver), who was undefeated at No. 1 singles in PAC action at 8-0 and was also 7-1 at the top doubles flight playing with senior Rachel Hodsden (Fort Collins, Col./Rocky Mountain).
This year's tournament champion will secure the PAC's automatic qualifying bid to the Division III Championships. Team selections will be announced Monday, May 10, 2027. The opening weekend of the Division III Championships which will feature first, second and third round matches, is set for Friday-Sunday, May 14-16.