The women's tennis team was nothing short of exceptional at Cornell in its first tournament of the year. That was in September. Unfortunately, this is October.
The Bulls had several shots at redemption this weekend, but their opportunities hastily vanished when the squad was decimated by injuries.
Buffalo traveled to New York City this past weekend to compete in the Women's Collegiate Invitational. The team didn't find much success in the preseason tournament – which featured nine singles and four doubles events – but the Bulls remain focused on the spring, when they'll have a shot at the Mid-American Conference championship.
Buffalo's best performance came from the doubles team of juniors Kira Golenko and Tamara Markovic, which reached the finals of the D doubles tournament. The first-seeded pair dismissed Alyssa Gleason and Larraine Saavedra of Army in the opening round, 8-5. They went onto the quarterfinals, where they shutout the Rutgers duo of Michelle Green and Satreethai Sasinin, 8-0.
The next day, Golenko and Markovic took on the Charleston Southern tandem of Susita Das and Alia Nour in the semi finals, and Buffalo earned its spot in the finals with an 8-5 win. However, the championship run was cut short when Markovic pulled her groin muscle during a match on Sunday, preventing them from competing in the finals on Monday.
Sophomore Tanvi Shah was the bright spot in the Bulls' singles competition, as she beat third-seeded Misia Krasowski of Brown in the opening round of the A singles bracket. Krasowski was ranked as high as No. 9 in the entire Northeast, but Shah was unfazed, winning the match, 1-6, 6-4, 11-9.
Shah was a symbol of how the entire tournament would go for Buffalo. She showed flashes of brilliance, but just couldn't perform when it mattered most, and eventually dropped out due to injury. Shah dropped her quarterfinals match to Boston College's Erina Kikuchi in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6.
After two long singles matches and two of three wins in doubles matches with sophomore Marta Stoyanova, Shah was forced to withdraw from both her singles and doubles tournaments with an injured back muscle.
The only other player to win an opening match was Golenko in the D Singles bracket. She beat Sharissa Ryan from Fairfield in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, before falling to third-seeded Sarah Kandath of Brown, 6-2, 7-5.
Despite subpar results, head coach Kathy Twist thinks her team has a legitimate shot at the MAC championship. She passionately believes that these fall tournaments will strengthen her team for the spring season.
"It [is] really is tough, to test your physical abilities against a grinding tournament," said Twist. "You get to know if you are physical fit, if your skills are ready for the spring. Each match you come back and you know exactly what to work on."
The Bulls' physical ability was tested in the sweltering 80-degree weather.
The squad has just one senior – Sonya Ivanyuk – so Twist takes opportunities like this to test out different doubles combinations to see who plays well together.
"We're not sure who's going to play well with who, so we keep mixing and matching with the doubles," Twist said. "It does give you time to try different combinations to see who works well chemistry wise."
The goal this season is simple: win the MAC Championship and return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. Fall tournaments are very different than the match play Buffalo will see this spring. The players normally play nine matches, and sometimes get only a half-hour rest between the games in the fall, but they will play at most four matches a weekend in the spring.
Twist is confident in her players' ability and is focused on getting them in a rhythm that will make them successful during MAC play.
"I think the skills we have are on par with anybody in the MAC," Twist said. "We have to [have] high energy for every single point that we're playing, every single shot that we're playing."
The Bulls will spend the next two weeks recuperating as they prepare for their final event of the fall season, the ITA Regional Championships. The tournament will begin on Friday, Oct. 21.
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
