Amidst the tennis rackets, polo shirts and skillful technique, an unblemished, three-win record traveled with the women's tennis team to Syracuse. Unfortunately for the Bulls, that record now has an orange stain on it.
Buffalo women's tennis suffered on Friday its first dual meet loss at Syracuse University, where the Bulls lost in a 6-1 decision to the Orange.
The ladies brushed off the loss quickly though, as they competed against Colgate University on Saturday, sweeping the formerly undefeated Raiders 7-0.
Against the Orange on Friday the Bulls' lone victory was in singles play as Kristen Ortman defeated the Orange's Catherine Zawadzki, 6-2, 6-4. Ortman is now 11-2 on the season.
"Kristen was so steady and solid this weekend, she showed her maturity," said head coach Kathy Twist.
The Bulls saw two matches go into third-set super-tiebreakers last weekend but were unable to pull out victories as they fell in both contests after winning the opening set.
At the No. 1 singles spot, Miglena Nenova won her opening set over the Orange's Victoria Vaynberg, 6-4. Nenova then dropped a 6-1 decision in the second set forcing a super-tiebreaker, which Vayneberg won 10-6.
The second super-tiebreaker came at the No. 5 spot. The Bulls' Natalie Dean faced off against the Orange's Ashley Lipton.
Dean opened with a 6-2 win in the first set but Lipton tied the match with a 6-4 win the second set. The 10-point super-tiebreaker was extended as far as possible as Lipton won the match 10-8.
The Bulls lost the rest of the singles matches in straight sets. Tina Jacob ended her six-match winning streak losing to Zeljka Juricek, 6-3, 6-1.
"Tina is not worried about records, she just goes out and plays," Twist said.
The Bulls were swept in doubles play on Friday, losing all three matches. At the No. 1 spot, Victoria Vaynberg and Catherine Zawadzki of Syracuse defeated Andreea Novaceanu and Jacob, 8-3.
Vaynberg and Catherine Zawadzki were ranked 11th in the East Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The closest of the three matches for the Bulls came when Ortman and Natalie Dean dropped a 9-8 decision to Katie Bramante and Wei-Ming Leong. Also losing in doubles matches were Bulls Nenova and Katrin Fischer as they fell, 8-2, to Lipton and Carolina Huignard of Syracuse.
"The game was corner-to-corner with some games lasting 20 minutes," Twist said.
The Bulls improved their record to 4-1 overall as they defeated Colgate on Saturday, handing the Raiders their first lost of the season.
The Bulls took home a victory in each singles match, including a double-bagel victory posted by Novaceanu at the No. 3 spot. At the No. 1 spot, Nenova beat Colgate's Jackie Couture, 6-2, 6-0.
The lone victor against Syracuse, Ortman, needed a super-tiebreaker victory to defeat Alex Seaton of Colgate in the No. 2 match. After taking the first set, 6-4, Ortman dropped the second set in a tiebreaker and then rallied to win the 10-point super-tiebreaker, 10-7.
The Bulls also won easily in all three doubles matches. No. 2 pairing Novaceanu and Jacob, who played together for the first time this season, knocked off Colgate's Cameron Thaney and Lil Vo, 8-0.
The No. 3 team of Ortman and Dean defeated Erin Fenn and Lindsay Grossman, 8-2. The only loss of the meet came at No. 1 doubles as Nenova and Fischer fell to Couture and Seaton, 8-3.
"If we played the way we did against Colgate on Saturday, we would have won against Syracuse," Twist said.
After the weekend's action, the Mid-American Conference released a coach's poll regarding the April conference tournament. Buffalo was voted to finish third.
The Bulls received 56 points in the poll, trailing Western Michigan and Miami (Ohio) by less then 20 points. MAC play begins March 24 with the Bulls facing the Western Michigan Broncos.
"You got to go out hard and play every match," Twist said. "Being third on paper means nothing."
The Bulls take on Duquesne Feb. 25.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
