UPG women's tennis team hoping to continue recent run of success

There could be a dynasty in the making at Pitt-Greensburg.

Last fall, the women’s tennis team won its second consecutive Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular-season title. The Bobcats followed that with their first AMCC Tournament title.

Fifth-year coach Doug Smeltzer’s team seems poised to continue its recent dominance with every player who competed in the conference final last season returning. The Bobcats are led by a junior class that has yet to lose a regular-season AMCC match.

“For the first time, I have 13 on my roster, and I am confident that any one of them could win a match somewhere in the lineup in our conference,” Smeltzer said. “It’s a great problem to have.”

The junior class includes two-time conference player of the year Emily Ruhlman, who will play No. 1 singles; Abby Rosman at No. 3 singles, where she hasn’t lost a match in two seasons; Cathryn Rossi at No. 4; and last season’s AMCC Newcomer of the Year Amber Sterrett (Derry) at No. 5 singles.

Also among the juniors is Burrell grad Bella Lane. Lane will slot in at No. 6 singles and pair with Rossi at No. 2 doubles. Lane spent her freshman season at La Roche before deciding to transfer, and Smeltzer was ecstatic when he learned of her desire for a change of scenery.

“When she emailed me saying she was transferring somewhere, I couldn’t respond quickly enough,” Smeltzer said. “We played (La Roche) twice the year she was a freshman … and she was the only person who gave Abby (Rosman), our No. 3 at the time, any kind of significant challenge.”

For Lane’s part, nothing like showing up and winning a championship. Not that she didn’t play a big role.

In the 2021 AMCC title match, Lane and Rossi defeated Penn State Behrend’s Erica Jasinski and Audra Carnes at No. 1 doubles. Coming into that match, the Behrend duo had been unbeaten all season, and the point secured by Lane and Rossi was pivotal in UPG’s 5-4 win.

“That was a lot of fun,” Lane said. “I still kind of can’t believe it happened. It was a really good experience, and I enjoyed it.”

Lane said she knew she would have to step up her game if she wanted to help the Bobcats continue their run. To do that, she spent most of her offseason preparation playing matches.

“Playing matches against random people is better than clinics,” she said. “Practice is always different than playing. It’s really hard to mimic those (match) conditions. It gets you more in a good mindset.”

Lane, Smeltzer said, always has had shot-making ability. It doesn’t hurt that she is a left-hander — something Smeltzer, a lefty himself, joked might make him a little biased in assessing her skills — which enables her to throw off opponents with a serve that has a natural-but-unusual spin.

She also can play a power game. Smeltzer said she can “hit the ball just about as hard as anybody in my lineup.”

Smeltzer said what has impressed him most in the run-up to this season — the Bobcats open Wednesday at Franciscan — is her more patient, cerebral approach to the game. That, he said, “is going to take her from a great player to a top-tier player.”

There is another repeat of sorts that could take place for the program.

Lane won a pair of titles in her first season at UPG, and a former high school foe is hoping to replicate that feat. Freshman Eden Richey, a Valley grad, will be at No. 2 singles, and she will combine with Ruhlman to give the Bobcats what Smeltzer called “a scary good No. 1 doubles team.”

The stars seem to be aligned for the Bobcats. Lane, however, said the team won’t take anything for granted.

“I, obviously, don’t know what the other teams have,” she said, “but … I expect similar results. The biggest thing is we shouldn’t just come into matches thinking we’re going to win because that doesn’t always work out.”