In its third shutout of the season, the women's tennis team is still unbeaten in dual meet action. Coming off of two earlier wins over St. Francis (Pa.) and Rochester, the Bulls swept the Cleveland State Vikings on Sunday afternoon 7-0.
The Bulls came into this match scoring their third consecutive double-bagel win, by having their first two players win in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.
Head coach Kathy Twist decided to juggle her lineup on Sunday, as her top four players all switched spots, causing the lineup to be unlike those that led the Bulls to earlier victories in the season.
"I don't want anyone to own spots one through three," Twist said. "I want to keep the team competitive."
Against Rochester last week, it was sophomore Andreea Novaceanu and junior Miglena Nenova recording the victory. Against Cleveland State on Sunday it was senior Kristen Ortman and sophomore Natalie Dean recording their first double-bagel win together.
Ortman, who played in the No. 2 spot, raced past Jenn Myers of the Vikings in just 40 minutes, and in the No. 5 spot, Dean easily defeated Kristen Chamberlain of Cleveland State, both Bulls winning 6-0, 6-0.
"(The Bulls) hit the ball hard and consistently and finished off points quickly," said Cleveland State assistant coach David Howell in a press release.
Buffalo's double teams also swept Cleveland State, 3-0. The No.1 team for the Bulls consisted of Novaceanu and sophomore Tina Jacob as the twosome faced the Vikings' Sarah Galon and Morgan Ungerott.
The Bulls team trailed early 2-1 but came back to win seven of the next nine games, finishing off the Vikings 8-4.
Double-bagel victors Ortman and Dean also teamed up at the No. 2 spot in doubles play. They crashed the Vikings' Kristin Chamberlain and Lindsay Sellers 8-3.
In the final doubles match of the day, Bulls juniors Katrin Fischer and Nenova, shut out the Vikings' Myers and Christine Vogelgesang, 8-0.
"We had great teamwork and communication," Twist said in a press release.
Also in singles play, Jacob remained unbeaten, defeating Cleveland's Vogelgesang 6-2, 6-0. Jacob is now 6-0 in singles matches, including three tournament wins at the Bowling Green Invitational last fall.
Jacob played at the sixth spot on Sunday, and is coming off her freshman year, where she finished with an 11-9 record.
"Tina, like the rest of the team, is getting better each week," Twist said.
Also recording a singles win for the Bulls was Nenova in the No. 1 spot as she defeated Galon of Cleveland State 6-2, 6-0. Novaceanu handily defeated Cleveland State's Ungerott 6-1, 6-0, for an additional Buffalo victory.
"This was probably the best team we faced this year," Howell said in a press release.
In all of the single matches the Bulls dominated the second set by not allowing the Vikings to win a game.
This weekend the Bulls go toe-to-toe with in-state rivals Colgate and Syracuse. The first match will be on Friday against the Orange in Syracuse at 6 p.m.
Syracuse has lost its last two matches, losing to Brown and Dartmouth, 2-5. However, Syracuse has a nationally ranked doubles team in Victoria Vaynburg and Catherine Zawadzki. They will pair off against Bulls' Novaceanu and Jacob.
In Syracuse, Saturday, the Bulls will take on Colgate at 1 p.m. The Red Raiders are coming off a sweep weekend during which they beat Manhattan and Marist 7-0. Colgate is currently 3-0 on the year.
"Both matches will be good, and this will be a test for the team," Twist said.
This will be the first time that the women have gone head-to-head against a Big East team on the tennis courts this season.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
