The UB women's tennis team dropped two consecutive matches at the Village Glen Tennis Center this weekend against Mid-American Conference opponents, the Bowling Green Falcons and the Ball State Cardinals.
Buffalo (4-4, 0-2 MAC) opened the weekend on Friday with a loss against the Bowling Green Falcons (7-4, 1-0 MAC) by a final score of 4-3.
UB started the match strong, as doubles pair Miglena Nenova and Kristen Ortman earned their 12th doubles win of the season by knocking off BGSU's Susie Schoenberger and Andrea Meister 8-1. The win raised the duo's meet record to a still-flawless 6-0.
However, UB was incapable of winning the double point in the match. Bowling Green grabbed wins when UB's duo of Erica Zielinski and Lisa Wittman lost to the Falcons' Ashley Jakupcin and Heidi Romer, 8-4. In the third match, Cameron Benjamin and Jessica Johnson dropped Buffalo's Katrin Fischer and Sheri Ugowski by a score of 8-4.
The Bulls struck quick in the singles match, but were unable to keep up the intensity as they lost the final three matches, and Bowling Green took the match. Nenova defeated Schoenberger, 6-3, 6-4, after battling back from a 2-1 deficit in the first set. Ortman beat Romer, 6-1, 6-0. At number three, Fischer Defeated Benjiman, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, coming from behind in the final set.
In the fourth match, UB's Sheri Ugowski was overpowered by Jakupcin, 6-0, 6-1. At number five, Zielinski was beaten by Meister, 6-0, 6-1, and in the final singles match, Buffalo's Onessa Williams lost to Jessica Johnson, 6-1, 6-4.
The Bulls lost the second of two matches this weekend to the Ball State Cardinals (5-3, 2-0 Mid-Atlantic Conference) 5-2 on Saturday at the Village Glen Tennis Center.
Ball State began the day by taking both of the doubles matches. UB's powerhouse duo Ortman and Nenova were beaten by Ball State's Katie Owens and Melissa Roach, 8-6. In the second match, Buffalo's Wittman and Zielinski lost to Jill Wieman and Jessica Thompson, 8-0. Fischer and Ugowski finished off the doubles for UB with a loss to Cardinal's Jenny Batty and Susan Kelley, 8-5.
Singles matches in this contest were full of impressive shots and come-from-behind play. Ball State eventually got the better of the UB squad, however.
Nenova played an impressive first match against Ball State's Melissa Roach, losing the first set 6-1, winning the second 6-4 and coming from behind in the third set to win 6-4, after trailing 4-1 earlier that set. The win extended Nenova's unbeaten streak in dual meet competition to 8-0.
In the second match, Ortman dropped the opening set to the Cardinal's Jenny Batty, 6-3. Ortman then fought from behind to win the next two sets, 6-0, 6-3. Currently Ortman is 6-2 in dual meets, and 4-0 when playing from the number two position.
Ball State dominated the remainder of the singles matches. Fischer lost to Katie Owens in the third match, 7-5, 6-2. At number four, Jill Wieman defeated Zielinski, 6-1, 6-0. In the fifth match, Wittman lost to the Cardinals' Susan Kelly, 6-1, 6-1. Williams dropped her match against to BSU's Jessica Thompson, 6-3, 6-0.
The Bulls have a two-week lay-off before they head to Tampa to play matches against Wisconsin-Green Bay on March 14, Division II team Tampa on March 17 and Daytona on March 19.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
