Home for the first and only time this season, the Binghamton University women’s tennis team downed Fairleigh Dickinson University by a score of 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.
“Today, for the most part we played pretty steady,” said BU head coach Libby McGovern. “We had moments of brilliance and just extremely smart, consistent play. And then we had moments where we aren’t really paying attention to what the match score is or what our opponent is doing or what the ball is giving us. We need to become a little bit more aware of the score, point situation, and what the high percentage play is in certain situations.”
Binghamton (7-8) started off the day by losing the doubles point to the Knights (6-10), who split the second and third doubles matches with BU before securing the point with a hard-fought victory in the first doubles match. FDU’s team of junior Julia Prantl and sophomore Egzona Morina defeated junior Jillian Santos and senior Yulia Smirnova 8-4. BU’s duo of juniors Marina Bykovskaya and Emma Leibowicz evened the score by winning against freshman Manuela Leme and senior Dzana Ferhatbegovic 8-6. In the deciding match, FDU juniors Elmine Botes and Irina Dementyeva outlasted senior Anna Edelman and junior Yagmur Gone 8-6.
“Overall in doubles, we played much more solid, but we had some opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on, at the end of our No. 1 doubles match especially,” McGovern said.
Binghamton made up for the loss of the doubles point by securing four victories out of the six singles matches. Edelman made quick work of Botes, winning 6-2, 6-1 in the first singles match. Prantl defeated Santos 6-4, 6-2 in the second singles match. Next, Leibowicz earned a victory in straight sets over freshman Emily Napier by the score of 6-0, 6-4 in the sixth singles match; on the final point, Leibowicz swatted the ball, which then hit the top of the net, bounced once, and dropped onto the other side of the court, earning her the victory. Bykovskaya earned a victory over Leme 6-3, 6-3 in the fifth singles match. To clinch the final point necessary for her team’s victory, Smirnova defeated Morina in an intense matchup by the score of 6-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the fourth singles match.
In the third singles match and final match to conclude, Binghamton saw the return to action of senior Lauren Bates, who has been rehabbing a shoulder injury. Bates was tested as her match went the distance in a third-set tiebreak. She lost to Irina Dementyeva 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, but Bates’ coach saw value in the lengthy match.
“She showed great effort; she showed great heart,” McGovern said. “She was hitting the ball really well. She’s been working really hard on her rehab. It’s a good jumping-off point. I know that she’s disappointed that she didn’t come away with a win today, but for not having played a match in a month, all in all, she battled very well.”
Binghamton went 3-3 over spring break. On March 18, the team dominated Albany 7-0 as the Great Danes were unable to take a set against BU in a singles match. Two days later, BU lost to Old Dominion 6-1, though the match was closer than the final score indicated.
Edelman won the first singles match in straight sets, but the Bearcats lost all of the other singles matches. Smirnova lost her third singles matchup 6-4, 1-6, 10-5, while Leibowicz lost her fifth singles matchup 6-3, 6-7, 10-7.
BU then shut out Virginia State 7-0 on March 21 before losing to Coastal Carolina one day later by a score of 6-1. Smirnova was the team’s only victor in singles competition, winning her third singles matchup in straight sets.
Two days later, BU fell to South Carolina State University 4-3. BU won the doubles point, and Edelman and Santos provided the team with two more points by winning their singles matches. However, the team was unable to win another singles match. Two days later, BU defeated Richmond 4-3. Edelman, Smirnova and Bykovskaya earned singles victories.
McGovern said that with only a few more weeks left in the season, the team’s training will mainly consist of situational practice.
“We are stressing our focus and our discipline,” she said. “What’s going to make the biggest difference is how we perform on the big points. How do we perform when we have a game point, when we’re down a game point, when the match is close like 4-4, 5-4, and who is going to be able to put some pressure on their opponent and come through in those situations.”
BU will look to keep the momentum going when it travels to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Saturday to face the Retrievers. Matches are set to begin at 10 a.m.