When it comes to college tennis, the fall season is about honing individual performances, instead of playing as a team. This weekend will be a chance for the Bearcats to prove that they belong among the elite. The Binghamton University men’s tennis team will be participating in the USTA/ITA Men’s Tennis Northeast Regional this weekend, with the hopes of having one of their players earn a coveted spot in the ITA National Championship.

The Northeast Regional tournament is a six-day, 128-player single-elimination tournament being hosted this year by Yale University. At last year’s tournament, then-junior Bearcat Sven Vloedgraven won the singles title as the No. 4 seed. He was given an automatic berth into the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship at Yale, where he lost to the No. 27 player in the nation.

This time around No. 84 Vloedgraven won’t be surprising anyone, as he will be the player to beat. He earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and the first-round bye that comes with it. That leaves six matches for the senior to win in order to defend his title. The first of those matches will either come against Joel Samaha of Yale or the winner of a qualifying match.

Vloedgraven is just coming off a solid performance at the ITA All-American Tennis Championship in Tulsa, Okla. He lost in the first round, but won a pair of matches in the consolation round, including one against the No. 66 player in the nation.

Just because Vloedgraven is the favorite, though, doesn’t mean he’s the only Bearcat with a chance of winning the Regional. Senior Arnav Jain, ranked No. 116 in the nation, is the No. 11 seed in the tournament and receives a first-round bye, as well. Junior Gilbert Wong is the No. 16 seed and earns a first-round bye, while junior Alexandre Haggai is one of the 16 No. 17-32 seeds and also earns a bye. The Bearcats who are playing matches in the first round are sophomore Ruben Devos, who is playing Kendrick Au of Brown University, and sophomore Bastian Bornkessel, who gets Nate Gery of Columbia University.

In addition to the singles players, three Bearcat doubles teams also made the tournament. Vloedgraven and Wong are the No. 3 seed and Jain and Haggai are the No. 6 seed. Both teams earn first-round byes. The duo of Devos and Bornkessel will also be participating, facing Timmy Klanke and Mike Hill from Brown University in the first round.

While Vloedgraven is 4-3 on the year and Jain is just 2-5 this fall season, the Bearcats have been playing top competition from around the nation. They have played a pair of tournaments in Virginia, in addition to one in Princeton.

The Northeast Regional began yesterday and is scheduled to run until Tuesday. If a Bearcat should win the title, the ITA National Indoor Championship takes place from Nov. 4-7 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. Otherwise, the final major tournament for the Bearcats is the Cornell Fall Indoor Invitational from Oct. 29-31.