It was a long weekend, but at least they’re back on the courts.
The three-time defending America East Champion Binghamton men’s tennis team started its spring season with a 1-2 record after three consecutive matches last weekend.
“We needed to get back onto the courts for many reasons,” said head coach Michael Starke. “Overall, we did pretty well.”
The Bearcats (4-3 overall) started their weekend at Columbia, where they lost 7-0 but the final score didn’t indicate how close the match really was.
“I didn’t feel we got blown out,” Starke said.
Sophomore Alex Dobrin, sophomore Faisal Mohamed and senior Brian O’Connor all took a set before eventually losing their matches.
Binghamton then defeated Concordia the next day in a tight match 4-3. The Bearcats were down 3-0, but O’Connor won in straight sets at fourth singles and senior Richemn Mourad stepped up big at first singles. Mourad won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to swing the momentum back to the Bearcats.
“I knew if I lost that match, we would lose,” Mourad said. “I found my game and things started rolling my way.”
Binghamton looked to come out strong for its final match of the weekend, but fell short at Army 5-2. Senior Edwin Gerard won at sixth singles in straight sets while O’Connor defeated Eddie Kang 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at third singles in a record-breaking win. O’Connor earned his 75th career win, breaking the previous career mark of 74 held by five-time Division III All-American Adam Marcus (1994-98).
“I think it means the world to Brian,” Starke said. “Adam would be honored to pass the torch to Brian.”
O’Connor is 11-3 this season and 75-30 in his four-year career. But O’Connor is far from done.
“I am just glad I was able to pass it,” O’Connor said. “And now I just want to set it higher.”
O’Connor stressed, however, that the most important part of the weekend wasn’t his milestone or other individual wins. It was coming together as a team.
“Before we were more individuals, but the Concordia match definitely molded the team together,” O’Connor said. “We rooted for each other and that was really helpful for us.”
Mourad thought his team could still improve in doubles and that they need to start coming out strong, which is something they didn’t do at the Concordia match.
Binghamton will get the chance to come out of the gates with some energy this Friday at 5 p.m. when they travel to face a Cornell team that beat them last year 6-1.
“They are always tough and competitive,” Starke said. “We just want to try to get better this week and come out fresh Friday and give them a sweat.”
MENS TENNIS BOX:
While the Bearcats had a very long weekend of traveling and matches, head coach Michael Starke got a chance to put together a possible lineup.
Right now he is leaning towards senior Richemn Mourad at first singles and sophomore Alex Dobrin at two, but he knows that “it is impossible to come up with the right lineup” at this point. His roster is very deep, which gives Starke flexibility at several spots.
But the area his team needs to work on the most is doubles. Out of six doubles matches last weekend, the Bearcats won two — both coming thanks to the third doubles team of Dobrin and sophomore Faisal Mohamed.
“Doubles play for sure is number one and I blame myself for that,” Starke said. “We didn’t walk in with optimal physical and mental strength.”