Reign over

Vengeance is a two-way street.

When the women's tennis team headed into the Mid-American Conference Championships, many thought the second-seeded team had a chance to repeat as champions.

After five hours of play with Western Michigan, Buffalo left Bowling Green without a chance to defend their title.

On Saturday, the Bulls (14-6, 6-2 MAC) faced off against the No. 3 Broncos (21-7, 8-2 MAC) with the hope of earning their second trip in two years to the MAC Championship. Western Michigan - who the Bulls defeated last year for the MAC Championship - had other thoughts in mind, handing the Bulls a 4-3 loss.

"I don't like losing to anyone, so who they are doesn't matter to me," said head coach Kathy Twist. "We have a very nice rivalry with [Western Michigan], but I wanted to make to clear to [the team] that it's any other match."

The match began with the Broncos earning the lone doubles point, winning both the first and third doubles matches. In the first doubles match, Emily Dudzik and Yumi Matsuto defeated junior Denise Harijanto and sophomore Diana Popescu of Buffalo, 8-6.

The third doubles match followed suit, with Western Michigan's duo of Jenny Nalepa and Ashley Moccia beating Buffalo's team of senior Smaranda Stan and junior Diana Toia, 8-3. The second doubles match ended with junior Anna Subenkova and sophomore Aleksandra Petrova from Buffalo tied with Kerstin Pahl and Amanda Moccia of Western Michigan, 4-4.

The doubles point ended up being the backbreaker for the Bulls in the match, considering both Buffalo and Western Michigan split the singles matches.

In fourth singles, Bronco Maria Nivia defeated junior Diana Toia 6-3, 6-2 to give the Broncos a 2-0 lead.

But then Buffalo appeared to set up a dramatic comeback.

Popescu won her second singles match over Western Michigan's Jenny Nalepa, 6-3, 6-3, while Harijanto won in straight sets at in first singles with a 6-4, 6-0 victory against Kerstin Pahl. Stan held the momentum, propelling the Bulls into a 3-2 lead with a three-set victory against Ashley Moccia in third singles, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The Broncos tied the match up 3-3 with a three-set victory in fifth singles thanks to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win from Bronco Amanda Moccia against sophomore Aleksandra Petrova, putting the two rivals in the third-straight 4-3 decision-making match in recent times.

In the sixth and finals singles match, the Broncos came out on top. Matsuto ended Buffalo's hopes of defending their title by defeating junior Anna Subenkova, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-5.

While the match and warm-ups combined took over six hours, Twist believes that her team wasn't stressed by the lengthy event.

"Physically, they were fine," Twist said. "They are trained to go that far and that distance, so I don't think [the loss was because of] physical fitness."

As the team heads into the offseason, they will only lose one player. Stan is the only senior on the team, but her loss will be a big one.

"I thank her for all she's done," Twist said. "She is one of the best competitors I have ever seen. She had to play up in the lineup and she just found a way to win. She used her heart and soul to win matches for us throughout the year and I will truly miss her."

For Twist, one plus of having a team full of underclassmen is that they can begin to mold together and mature together. She believes that, if they use this summer to get better, the Bulls will be on top of the MAC come next year.

"This is a pretty young team," Twist said. "We're going to talk about them going to tournaments this summer. They need to work on their match toughness and they have to learn how to handle the pressure on the court."