Coming off of their first loss of the season, Binghamton University’s men’s tennis team (4-1) rebounded by defeating Mid-American Conference member University at Buffalo at Cornell, 7-0. After losing 5-2 at Cornell in Wednesday’s match, the Bearcats were successful in Ithaca this time around. Saturday’s 7-0 victory improved the Bearcats’ season record to an impressive 4-1, better than the 1-4 record they had at this time last season. The Buffalo Bulls are now 3-2 overall.

Despite the lopsided final score, the Bulls put up a fight, bringing two of the three doubles matches as well as two of the six singles matches to tiebreakers. However, the Bearcats ultimately proved to be too much for the Bulls.

“Our guys played well up and down the lineup,” Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen said. “Our guys compete hard every time … and win or lose I never have to be worried about their competitiveness.” Cohen was impressed with the way his doubles teams handled their matches.

After posting Binghamton’s lone two wins in last Wednesday’s loss to Cornell, Gilbert Wong and Sven Vloedgraven teamed up to defeat Buffalo’s first doubles team, 8-7 (1). Freshman Alexandre Haggai and sophomore Arnav Jain were also extended to tiebreaker, before prevailing, 9-8 (5).

Among the positives from Saturday’s victory, all of the team’s freshmen continue to build on excellent rookie campaigns. Wong improved his already impressive season, picking up wins at first doubles as well as fourth singles to improve to 4-1 in singles and 3-2 in doubles in dual matches. Haggai continues to maintain his strong play, winning at fifth singles and second doubles. He is now an undefeated 5-0 in doubles and 4-1 in singles, with his only loss coming in the team’s lone loss to Cornell. Rafael Rodrigues picked up a win as well, moving to 4-1 on the season with a win at sixth singles over Alexis Luis, 6-1, 7-6 (6).

Buffalo junior Kirill Kolomyts saw his undefeated streak come to an end on Saturday, when he lost both of his matches. Kolomyts was the only member of the Buffalo squad who had not yet lost a match. He found his kryptonite in Vloedgraven, who also came into the day undefeated in singles. Vloedgraven and Wong defeated him in doubles, and then Vloedgraven beat him, 6-2, 6-2, at second singles . Vloedgraven improved his undefeated record in dual matches to 5-0, all at the second singles position.

After a strong showing in Ithaca, the men’s tennis team will travel to Minneapolis to take on University of Minnesota and nationally ranked Drake, Feb. 21 and 22. Binghamton will look to improve upon the best start in current head coach Adam Cohen’s tenure.