What happened to those 13-3 Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys in the NFL playoffs?
Their promising seasons ended in disarray when the two teams lost their playoff games in upsets, rust evident after the bye week. Rust can have that effect on teams that had previously been on a roll.
But Binghamton University’s women’s tennis team, led by freshmen Anna Edelman and Lauren Bates in their spring debut at the Cornell Invitational, would not let that happen. Coming off an outstanding fall season, but also a three-month layoff, the Bearcats needed to reestablish themselves as a contender for the America East crown. Edelman and Bates made sure that their team did just that at the Cornell Winter Invitational over the weekend.
Edelman and Bates surged to the doubles title in the A flight, defeating Cornell’s Shayna Miller and Sinziana Chis in the finals, 8-5. The pair has improved its record to 14-1. Edelman, the team’s No. 1 singles player is excited for the upcoming spring season, and feels she has good chemistry with Bates.
‘Lauren and I play really well together and we know each other’s games really well,’ Edelman said. ‘We are really happy with our results this weekend at Cornell. We played really aggressive and we were really energetic, which is very important in doubles. I definitely think we will do well in the spring.’
Bates lost in the singles A flight, but rallied to win the consolation bracket with a win over Cornell’s Melissa Orteza 6-3, 7-5. Bates is 13-2 this season in singles play.
BU sophomore Danyelle Shapiro, who is expected to play fourth singles and stabilize the middle of the lineup this spring, went four up and two down over the weekend. Her weekend highlight was a gritty win over Cornell’s Shayna Miller, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. The win was Shapiro’s second win over Cornell in the event, and one of Binghamton’s four victories over the in-state rival.
Bearcats sophomore Erica Rosenblum saw her first action of the year after missing the fall season. Rosenblum won two of her three singles matches in Cornell. She is expected to be a starter for the team in the spring. The weekend also saw newcomer Danielle Kashou see some action. Kashou joined the team this semester and will add depth to a roster that had just eight women in the fall, short of the 11 women the team had last spring.
The Bearcats travel to Army on Feb. 1, where they will face Army and Rutgers in their first dual matches since cruising past Siena, 6-1, on Oct. 6.