After 25 months of stability at the top spot, the women’s tennis team saw its first shakeup at first singles last week.

Zeynep Altinay, the 2005 America East Player of the Year, was unseated from her No. 1 singles spot after 44 straight dual meets at the top, as the Bearcats spent their spring break in sunny North Carolina. Freshman Juliana Umeki took over the top spot after Altinay dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision on Wednesday.

The Bearcats (4-5) dropped below .500 for the year, with a pair of losses to two very strong programs: Coastal Carolina (14-0) and UNC-Wilmington (11-1). But with conference play coming up soon, the unexpected lineup change was just as significant as the matches. Altinay destroyed UNC-Wilmington’s Lauren Isenhour 6-0, 6-2 in her first second singles match in two years on Thursday.

“They’re both number-one players, so I’m not sure who’s going to play number one next,” said head coach Mike Stevens about his two top players. “Zeynep’s a great team player. She’s going to help out the team no matter what position she plays. She wasn’t affected by it at all, as you can tell by her score.”

There is certainly no bad blood between the two players, however; they teamed up for an 8-2 victory at second doubles against UNC-Wilmington.

“They’re both great team players,” Stevens said. “She and ‘Z’ have worked out very well together at second doubles.”

After a long fall of training and nine out-of-conference matches, the Bearcats will open their America East schedule with an 11 a.m. home match against Hartford on April 2. Stevens added that with two weeks of practice coming up, he’s not sure of any positions in the lineup.

While Altinay continues her strong play at the top of the lineup, Umeki has brought lightning in a bottle to the already young squad.

Umeki improved to 9-0 in dual matches since joining the team in January, and her latest three-set win over UNC’s Lindsey Hess was especially impressive — Hess is the senior captain of a UNC-Wilmington squad that reached the CAA semifinals last year. She has played No. 1 for the Lady Seahawks for all four years.

“I knew she [Umeki] was going to be a top player here,” Stevens said about his star freshman. “I didn’t know if she would play No. 1 or No. 2, but I knew she would be near the top of our lineup. She’s got great skills and has a great future in college tennis.”

The battle for the top spot overshadows the newfound strength of the lower part of the Bearcat lineup. Junior Jelena Koprivica, who consistently challenged Altinay as BU’s No. 2 player last year, continues to improve, but has been bumped to the fourth slot.

Sophomore Jenn Naegeli is a very strong No. 5, but her strength is in doubles play with her partner, Koprivica. Junior Lya Kushnirovich, the last Bearcat to play No. 1 before Altinay (in 2003), provides all kinds of matchup problems at No. 3.

The Bearcats have finished runner-up to Boston University in the America East each of the last two years. The conference championship will be held April 28-30 at Yale University.