INDIANA, Pa. – The IUP women's tennis program won its first ever Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) regular season title after defeating rival Mercyhurst 7-2 Friday afternoon at the Maple Street Courts.
 
The dominating victory clinched a quarterfinal bye in next week's PSAC tournament as the Crimson Hawks posted their first ever undefeated divisional record at 6-0.
 
The Crimson Hawks improved to 15-5 on the year and knocked Mercyhurst from the ranks of the unbeaten as the Lakers dropped to 19-1 overall and 4-1 in the division.

RESULTS
 
Friday also marked a match between two of the top teams in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings. IUP has been No. 1 in the region in each of the two ranking releases this season, while Mercyhurst entered the weekend ranked No. 3.
 
The Crimson Hawks got out to a hot start with wins in all three doubles matchups. Mercyhurst rallied for singles wins at one and six to cut IUP's lead to 3-2, but Nicole Beidacki won at four and Julia Newman clinched the match with a 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory at five.
 
Von Agris gets another record
Another big story from the win came from senior Luise von Agris, who broke another IUP record with 104 career doubles victories. She now owns all three major win records for the program, including singles (97) and combined (201) victories.
 
Von Agris paired with Jarka Petercakova for a convincing 8-1 victory at one over Mercyhurst's top team of Saioa Gomez de Segura and Adina Spahalic.
 
Von Agris also had a big singles victory, enacting some revenge on Kayla Frost at two with a comeback 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win. She had lost to Frost 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the PSAC Singles Championship in the fall.
 
IUP in the PSAC Championships
The Crimson Hawks are the defending PSAC tournament champions, defeating Mercyhurst 5-2 in the 2017 title match in Bloomsburg. It was the program's first ever conference title. IUP will be making its eighth straight tournament appearance (13th overall) and has advanced to the title match each year since 2011.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks still have a big weekend ahead with matches at Charleston Saturday and West Virginia State Sunday. WV State is ranked No. 2 in the Atlantic Region and Charleston is ranked No. 4.  
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's tennis on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPtennis.