Buffalo's women's tennis team brought some excitement back to Buffalo as they hosted a pair of Mid-American Conference matches over the weekend.
The Ball State Cardinals came to town on Friday, and the Miami (OH) RedHawks made the trip to the Village Glen in Williamsville on Saturday. The Bulls (7-5, 2-1 MAC) were on cloud nine in the match against the Cardinals, defeating them 7-0, but they were quickly brought back to reality with a 5-2 loss to the RedHawks.
The Bulls had an outstanding day against Ball State (8-6, 1-2 MAC). Buffalo started the day by winning three hard-earned doubles matches. In the first match, the pairing of senior Tina Jacob and sophomore Diana Toia was able to defeat Ball State's Emma Retter and Katherine Rist, 9-7.
The next pair of Bulls to win its match was the combination of sophomore Denise Harijanto and freshman Diana Popescu. Harijanto and Popescu were down 5-4 to the Cardinals tandem of Haley Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack, before the Bulls were able to overcome the deficit by winning four games in a row. Harijanto and Popescu ended the match with an 8-4 win for the Bulls.
Buffalo's senior Andreea Novaceanu and sophomore Anna Subenkova won the last doubles match, 8-7. They defeated Ball State's Sophie Quist and Georgina Thompson.
The Bulls continued to punish the Cardinals by taking victories in all of their singles matches. The Buffalo women were able to do this in a convincing fashion as well, winning all but one in straight sets.
In the first match, Novaceanu defeated Quist, 6-1, 6-1. Popescu racked up her 20th win of the season by defeating Pollack 6-2, 6-3. In third singles, Harijanto knocked off Calderwood, 6-1, 6-4, which ultimately clinched the match for the Bulls. Buffalo junior Smaranda Stan came back from a first set loss to beat Retter, 3-6, 6-2, 1-0. In the last two matches, Toia defeated Thompson, 7-6, 6-3, and Jacob overcame Rist, 7-6, 6-3.
"We want to beat the teams we should beat," said Head Coach Kathy Twist. "We knew we would pretty much dominate Ball State."
The Bulls could not find the same success in Saturday's match against Miami, coming away with only one doubles match victory and just two wins in singles play.
Harijanto and Popescu teamed up for Buffalo's lone doubles win. They won their match against Brittany Larson and Anastasia Dracheva, beating them 8-3. Novaceanu and Subenkova lost, 8-2, to Miami's Sydney Bridger and Leda Pesatova. The last doubles match was also a loss for the Bulls, with Jacob and Toia losing, 8-4, to Kelly Douple and Victoria Pulido.
"We are still looking for that doubles combination at the two and three that will be a little stronger, for us to win" Twist said.
In singles play, the Bulls engaged themselves in long, tough matches with the RedHawks. Most of the games won were only by small margins. Three of the singles matches lasted three sets.
Harijanto defeated Pesatova, 6-4, 7-6 at third singles match, while Toia defeated Bridger, 7-6, 6-3, at the number five.
The Bulls' three-set losses were recorded by Novaceanu, who lost to Dracheva, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, Stan, who fell to Douple, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and Jacob, who lost to Pulido by a score of 5-7, 7-6, 1-0. Popescu suffered a straight set loss to Larson, 6-1, 6-1.
Even with the Bulls losing significantly, Twist is making sure that her team does not panic. She believes that this match-up was a great way to measure their strengths and weaknesses.
"I'm pleased with the way they played, and all we want to do is build week by week," Twist said. "I saw some things that we are going to keep doing, and some things that we really need to work on."
With five games left until the MAC Championships, the Bulls believe that they will have a chance to redeem themselves against the RedHawks.
"I have a feeling that we will meet Miami again, and when we do, we know exactly what we need to do to beat them," Twist said.
With that in mind, the Bulls look forward to getting back on the winning side of things, as they face MAC rival Bowling Green on Friday, April 4 at 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
