ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's tennis team saw its fall season end with a loss on Sunday afternoon, when the No. 2-seeded Lions were defeated 4-1 by No. 1 seed Penn State Behrend in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship at Westwood Racquet Club.

Penn State Altoona (14-2) established a 1-0 lead in the match when it went 2-for-3 in doubles play, but Behrend (9-1) surged back to win in singles, where the home squad nabbed four straight victories to end the match at decision.

Penn State Altoona won the first point of the match by taking two out of three in doubles. In the No. 1 spot, the duo of Caitlin Blessel (Saint Marys, PA/Saint Marys)/Rachel Stricek (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) prevailed 6-1 for their seventh win of the season together. At No. 2, Sienna Fell (Canonsburg, PA/Canon-McMillan)/Abigail Morgan (Orrville, OH/Orrville) pulled out a 7-5 victory for their 11th win of the year.

But Behrend came back to win the championship during a tightly contested singles portion of the day, as the home team won in the No. 1 through No. 4 matches, including two that went to tiebreak. Penn State Altoona also battled to tiebreak in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, but those matches were left unfinished when the overall match reached decision.

After the match, senior Stricek and junior Blessel were both named to the AMCC All-Tournament team for their performances during the conference playoffs this weekend.

The Penn State Altoona women's tennis team's fall schedule is now concluded, but the Lions are slated to return to action in the spring semester with a handful of regular season dates. The team's first scheduled match of the spring is Tuesday, March 3, when the Lions will travel to play non-conference opponent Juniata College.