With the Mid-American Conference tournament quickly approaching, the women's tennis team needed to find out what has been causing it to be inconsistent against conference competition. The two games last weekend were its last chance to do so.
The Bulls (6-12, 2-6 MAC) faced off against Ball State (7-15, 1-6 MAC) and Miami (Ohio) (17-5, 8-0 MAC) to end their regular season campaign. Buffalo recorded its second consecutive sweep over the Cardinals to clinch the seventh seed in the tournament. The Bulls then dropped their match against the RedHawks, 5-2.
Sophomore Tamara Markovic and freshman Miranda Podlas were the only players to go undefeated in singles competition. The victories extended the Bulls' singles winning streaks to five each, their highest for the season.
Podlas had to give it her all to keep her winning streak alive. She got off to a slow start against the Cardinals' Kylee Johnson and dropped the first set, 4-6. Podlas then came back to dominate the next two sets, 6-2, 6-0.
Podlas' weekend only became more difficult when she went up against the RedHawks' Cara Wald. After Podlas won the first set, 6-4, Wald took command with a 6-0 shutout in the second set. Podlas came back to take the victory in a grueling 11-9 third set.
Markovic only needed four sets to continue her winning streak. She defeated both Ball State's Lauren Pickrel and Miami's Riekie Honiball by the same score, 6-4, 6-4.
The weekend's games marked the final regular season matches for seniors Diana Popescu and Aleksandra Petrova. Popescu teamed up with Podlas to go undefeated in the weekend's doubles competition. The tandem defeated Ball State's Dena Boulieris and Georgina Thomson, 8-2, then beat Miami's Megan Martzolf and Stephanie Danesis, 8-6.
Popescu went on to beat Thomson in singles, 7-5, 6-2. However, she ended her season with a 6-2, 6-0 loss against Miami's Anastasia Dracheva.
Petrova and sophomore Kira Golenko teamed up to beat Ball State's Kylee Johnson and Sarah Hebble in an 8-3 contest. She then beat Kristen Sanders in a 7-5, 3-6, 10-6 decision.
Petrova's run came to halt when she faced the RedHawks. Golenko and Petrova lost against Jessica Parr and Riekie Honibal, 8-6. Petrova then dropped her game against Stephanie Danesis, 6-0, 6-2.
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Photo: Courtesy of UB Athletics
