As the weather gets warmer, conference play is heating up for the Bulls. The women's tennis team went 1-1 on the weekend, as they defeated Bowling Green on Friday but fell to nationally ranked Western Michigan on Saturday.
Friday afternoon's match saw the Bulls (11-2, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) score a 4-3 victory over the Bowling Green Falcons (10-5 2-1 MAC), outside at the Ellicott Tennis Courts. Both teams entered the match on a four game winning streak.
Bowling Green tried to extend its streak early by taking the doubles point. The Falcons' first doubles pairing of Kelsey Jakupcin and Jenna Nussbaum came back against Buffalo's duo of junior Andrea Novaceanu and freshman Denise Harijanto in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (5), after trailing 7-5 early on.
The Bulls' pairing of seniors Natalie Dean and Miglena Nenova improved their doubles record to 5-0, scoring an 8-4 victory of Katina Babina and Andrea Volle. In the third match, Bulls' senior Katrin Fischer and freshman Diana Toia were defeated 8-2 by Samantha Kintzel and Stefanie Menoff of the Falcons for the Falcons' other doubles victory.
The Bulls fought back however, taking the next four singles matches. Nenova, Dean, Harijanto and junior Smaranda Stan secured points for the Bulls, leading them to victory.
Nenova avenged her doubles loss, taking a 6-1, 6-0 decision over Ashley Jakupcin in first singles. The match improved Nenova's personal record to (14-3, 3-0 MAC). After Friday's match she was 7-0 in no. one matches.
"She's just rock solid," said Buffalo head coach Kathy Twist. "The first game she was just kind of feeling out her opponent and after that it was her show. She's just composed, a hard worker and a smart tennis player. She's really the complete package."
Dean defeated Nussbaum 6-3, 6-3 and Harijanto beat Kitznel in three sets, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. Stan sealed the victory for the Bulls with her 7-6 (3), 7-5 win over Babina.
Although the game improved Buffalo's record to 11-1, head coach Katy Twist felt that her team did not show its true colors in the match.
"We usually play a little more consistent than we (did today)," Twist said. "The girls did well. It was a tough match they pulled it out. A lot of them came from behind and of course we came from behind after losing the doubles point. They didn't show their best game today."
On Saturday, the Bulls dropped the doubles point to Western Michigan (14-6, 3-0 MAC), marking the first time all season they had dropped the first point in two consecutive matches. The Bulls fell 6-1 in a rematch of last years MAC Championship match.
In a back-and-forth match in second doubles, the Nenova-Dean pairing fell to the tandem of Kerstin Pahl and Priyanka Parekh, 8-5. While Novaceanu and Harijanto were able to win their match 8-6, the pairing of Stan and junior Tina Jacob was not, giving the Broncos the team point.
"I think our shots have to be a little deeper because they attack us to the short ball and they did that very well (against us) on Saturday," Twist said.
Fischer scored the only team point for the Bulls with her 6-3, 6-3 win over Emily Dudzik of the Broncos.
"(Fischer) played a really smart game. She kept the ball high and deep," Twist said. "That's just pretty much what you have to do with any kind of player. Keep them high and deep and look for your shots to come in and she did that with perfection."
Nenova took the first set of her No. 1 singles match against Carrie Jeanmaire 6-4, but the match ended up going the distance as Jeanmarie took the second set 6-2, and eventually took the match 10-5 in a super-tiebreaker.
"Maggie [Nenova] was playing very well," Twist said. "What we found with Western Michigan is that they're just a little more consistent than we are at just getting one more ball back and I think they did that a little bit better than we did on Saturday."
Following Saturday's match, Western Michigan extended its winning streak to four games. The Broncos are also holding a 21 match regular season conference winning streak. The wins by Fischer and the Bulls' first doubles team of Novaceanu and Harijanto marked the first points that the Broncos have given up to a MAC opponent all season.
"I was happy with the win over Bowling Green," Twist said of the weekend. "It was a good fight. It showed that they're in pretty good shape. All in all it was a really good weekend. I liked seeing Western Michigan and what they had to offer. My opinion is that they're at the top of their game and that we've got more potential and development and that's exciting for me."
The Bulls next take on the Akron Zips (9-8, 0-4 MAC) on Friday, in a home match scheduled for 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
