Pitt tennis defeated by Notre Dame in opening round of ACC Tournament

The Pitt tennis team finished its season after the Panthers were defeated by Notre Dame in the opening round of the ACC Tournament, 4-0.

For the program, it marked another disappointing year. The team finished 7-14 on the season and won only one conference matchup to go 1-13.

The tennis team got off to a decent start this season so there was hope things would be a little different. Pitt started the year 5-1, had a win over No. 61 Penn State and their sole loss was a narrow 4-3 defeat to the same Notre Dame team (then ranked No, 33). That fast start was enough to get the Panthers into the ITA rankings for the first time in program history.

From there, things went downhill in a hurry. Pitt would go on to win only two more matchups against Morgan State and Duquesne. The lone conference win came early in the season over unranked Louisville. As disappointing as the defeats was how the Panthers lost, too. Pitt was soundly defeated in almost every one of its contests, losing by at least three matches in 14 of their 15 remaining events after that 5-1 start.

Athletics director Scott Barnes has made it clear that winning in all programs is important. To be fair, Pitt did take a small step forward this year. Their seven wins were more than the past two years combined (six) and in defeating Louisville, that gave the program its first-ever ACC victory. But there's no doubt that the program needs to do more and seasons like this one just aren't good enough.

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