After an invigorating victory over Boston University — the historically dominant team of the America East Conference — the Binghamton University women’s tennis team continued its stellar play over spring break with two victories over conference foes University of Hartford and Stony Brook University.
On April 16, Binghamton went to Hartford and rolled over the Hawks 7-0. In the second dual match of the doubleheader, the Bearcats defeated the Seawolves 4-2.
The wins come in the final regular season matches for the Bearcats (11-8) before the AE Championships, including a perfect 4-0 in conference play.
“Any time you can go undefeated in your conference, it gives you great confidence,” said Binghamton head coach Libby McGovern. “All the other things — beating Boston, going undefeated — that’s fantastic. It boosts morale. They [the team] really have the mindset that going undefeated was great, but that we aren’t done yet.”
Binghamton started off the day by sweeping all three doubles matches, each in straight sets. Junior Jillian Santos and senior Yulia Smirnova made quick work of senior Nicole Haynal and sophomore Kaitlin Lennon. Seniors Anna Edelman and Lauren Bates defeated freshmen Katina Zampas and junior Maggie Sabatino in first doubles to clinch the doubles point for the Bearcats. Juniors Marina Bykovskaya and Emma Leibowicz got the win over freshman Ashley Harel and sophomore Emily Willhoft to complete the sweep.
Binghamton then went on to tally six victories in singles play. Edelman, Bykovskaya and Leibowicz won their singles matches in straight sets. Bates defeated Sabatino 6-2, 6-0 in second singles. Santos earned the victory over Harel 6-0, 6-2, and Smirnova did the same against Haynal, winning her match 6-1, 6-0.
In the process of helping their team get the victory over the Hawks, both Edelman and Bates set new records for Binghamton women’s tennis. Edelman set the record for most singles victories by a Bearcat in one season; her 31st win broke the previous record set by Zeynep Altinay in 2005. Meanwhile, Bates eclipsed Altinay’s record for most career singles wins in Binghamton women’s tennis history with her 87th victory. Each player would add another victory to her totals later in the day.
In the second dual match of the day, the Bearcats and the Seawolves faced off exclusively in singles matches, forgoing the doubles point. Edelman got the Bearcats off to a good start with a solid 6-1, 6-2 victory over sophomore Nini Lagvilava in the first singles match. Santos widened the team’s lead with a 6-4, 6-3 win against junior Prerana Appineni. Junior Salome Mkervalidze got Stony Brook back in the match as she defeated Leibowicz 6-3, 7-5. Bates guaranteed Binghamton at least a tie in the meet with her victory over sophomore Aylin Mehter, winning 6-1, 6-1. Bykovskaya clinched the Bearcat victory with her win in fifth singles over junior Katherine Hanson 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. Senior Gayatri Krishnan won against Smirnova 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-4 in fourth singles, the final match to conclude.
McGovern said that with only a few more days left until the America East Championships, the team will focus on taking command of matches early and not letting unfavorable situations have negative emotional effects.
“We’re training to be very aggressive in our doubles play, trying to really set the tone for our matches right at the beginning, and hopefully surprise some of the teams that we played,” McGovern said. “Obviously we’ll try to tweak some minor things in our singles, make sure we’re playing the appropriate style of play at the appropriate time in the match. We’re doing a lot of match play in practice, just making sure we stay sharp.”
Binghamton will take the momentum gained by a six-match winning streak and record-breaking performances by its top players to Yale University to compete in the America East Championships, scheduled to begin on Friday and conclude on Sunday. Last year, the Bearcats lost to Boston University in the final.