Fighting to show that it's a force to be reckoned with, the women's tennis team recorded 16 singles and seven doubles victories at the Princeton Invitational.
During last weekend's three-day tournament, the Bulls battled against top-level competition. Rutgers, Yale, Ohio State and the host Princeton Tigers filled out the field.
Since team scoring was not counted, this tournament served as a building block for the Bulls to prepare for its upcoming schedule.
"It's early in the season," said head coach Kathy Twist. "The team is still trying to get mentally and physically into shape."
On Friday, the teams participated in doubles matches, where it was victorious in over half of the matches, winning seven out of 15. The event was moved indoors because of weather conditions.
"Moving indoors was not hard for us," Twist said. "The girls are used to training indoors and the courts were similar to the ones that we practice on."
Buffalo started out against Ohio State and won only one match out of four. The team of junior Katrin Fischer and freshman Diana Toia pulled out a doubles victory, winning 8-3.
Buffalo then faced Rutgers and was able to take two out of three matches. The Bulls continued against Princeton and Yale. The team was able to come away from both of these games winning two and losing two.
The doubles team of sophomore Andrea Novaceanu and sophomore Tina Jacob won three out of four of its doubles events, winning three in a row after losing it's initial match.
Saturday and Sunday consisted of singles play. The Bulls played well in the singles part of the tournament, winning 16 of the 29 matches. The games against Rutgers on Sunday were played in an eight game pro-set format.
Buffalo and Princeton split their eight matches against one another. The Bulls went 3-5 against Yale and Princeton. Buffalo finished 3-4 against the Buckeyes but came back strong against Rutgers, winning six of seven.
Novaceanu and sophomore Smaranda Stan both went 3-1 in their matches to lead the Bulls. Fischer and Junior Miglena Nenova both finished singles play with a 2-2 record. Jacob went 2-1 in singles, including an 8-2 victory against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights' Lauren Edelschein.
Stan won both of her matches on Saturday. The first match was against Princeton's Laura Trimble in two games, 6-2, 6-4. Her next contest was against Yale's Olivia Nix, in which she came out on top 6-2, 3-0 (ret.), when Nix retired due to an injury.
On Sunday, the Bulls were playing without sophomore Natalie Dean. Dean hurt her toe, which forced her to take a day off. Everybody moved up one spot and freshmen Denise Harijanto took Dean's place in the lineup. Harijanto went 1-1 on Sunday, losing her first match to Julie Voss of Ohio State, 6-7, 7-6, 1-0 (10-6), but winning against the Scarlet Knights' Katherine Arlak, 8-4.
"I was impressed with the way Denise played," Twist said. "It's a tough adjustment from playing high school to college tennis."
The tournament was a good experience for the Bulls as it helped the team learn what strokes it needed to work on to improve for the rest of the season, and let Twist see what combinations of doubles teams worked well together. The girls also played against tougher competition, which will help the girls mentally, knowing that they can play against anybody.
"This was a grueling tournament," Twist said. "There were numerous matches to be played with little time in between to rest. It's a pleasure to coach this team. The girls push themselves and I can't expect any more from them and this is what a championship team does."
The Bulls continue play on Saturday, Sept. 30 when the team will be participating at the Niagara Invitational.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
