Losing is not something that the women's tennis team is accustomed to. The Bulls (12-2, 4-1 Mid American Conference) went into their match against the Akron Zips determined to put their loss against Western Michigan behind them.
Buffalo accomplished this feat by winning 7-0, sweeping all three doubles matches and defeating the Zips in singles matches as well.
"I think it showed that we have some really good resiliency, and the team really got focused," said head coach Kathy Twist. "We talked about being in a new place this year. We're one of the top teams and everybody comes out gunning for you. I think that's a new position for us, there's teams that you're supposed to win against and there's one team where you're going to be the underdog against, that's Western Michigan."
The Bulls shined throughout, as the Zips (9-9. 0-5 MAC) took only two of the 26 games in doubles play during three matches. The duo's of junior Andreea Novaceanu and freshman Denise Harijanto, as well as junior Tina Jacob and senior Katrin Fischer swept their opponents 8-0. The only blemish in doubles play came from the team of seniors Miglena Nenova and Natalie Dean who won 8-2.
Singles play was more of the same for the Bulls, as Nenova got the team started on the right foot with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-1 victory over Tonya Gombera in No. 1 singles.
"Maggie Nenova played a really good young lady.... and Maggie's game wasn't working against her," Twist said. "Maggie had to change her game, she was losing three-love, and she turned to me and said 'coach I'm going to have to win ugly today, and that's okay because I'm going to be the smarter player on the court.'"
The Bulls did not drop a single set during the match, and one of the brightest spots was Fischer, who made extremely quick work of Akron's Laura Hemlepp 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.
Two other Bulls allowed only two games against them in their matches. Harijanto defeated Jenna Larson 6-2, 6-0; Dean defeated Lindsey Berry 6-1,6-1, while Novaceanu gave up only three games, winning her match 6-2, 6-1. Junior Smaranda Stan also won her match, defeating Alyssa Carlson 6-3, 6-4.
"I think we're much better then last year, we're mentally more flexible," Twist said. "When you have the kind of mental capacity to flip-flop your game to an unfamiliar game, I think it shows a lot of mental toughness."
Twist was pleased with how the team performed after a less then stellar outing against Western Michigan last weekend.
"I think all of the matches were pretty good, I don't think that you could pick out one bright spot," Twist said. "I think all the girls did really well and I think all of the girls wanted to do well after the Western Michigan match, just get over that and get back on track."
The Bulls next match will be at Toledo on Friday, starting at 1 p.m. The Rockets are currently tied for first place in the conference with Western Michigan, while the Bulls are one game behind in second place. On Saturday, the Bulls will travel to Eastern Michigan for another in-conference match up.
"We decided that we're going to take one practice that day, one game that day, and just be the best that walks on court at that particular time, we are not going to look ahead," Twist said. "I think maybe we were doing that a little too much with Western and Bowling Green that weekend. We have our heads on straight now, we know what we have to do to continue to win."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
