The Binghamton men’s tennis team took the ‘be all you can be’ mantra to heart this past weekend with a strong performance at the Army Invitational. The eight Bearcats who played combined to go 14-10 in singles play, with senior captain Faisal Mohamed and freshman Andreas Danielsson both going 3-0 to capture the flight No. 2 and flight No. 8 titles respectively.

On a weekend of very strong performances all around, the most dominant of all the Bearcats may have been Danielsson. The freshman destroyed Yale’s Ryan Berman 6-4, 6-1 and dismantled Antonio Farias of St. Bonaventure 6-1, 6-2. He then readily handled Bruno Lucivero of Army 7-5, 6-2.

Mohamed also looked particularly good on the court as he steamrolled through opponents from Yale, St. Bonaventure and host Army. Head coach Adam Cohen was delighted with his captain’s performance.

‘It gives Faisal some confidence for regionals,’ Cohen said.

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association East Regional this upcoming weekend at Princeton is the next time Mohamed will be in action. In addition to Mohamed, the Bearcats will also be represented by transfer Sebastian Dietz and sophomore Moshe Levy who should both also be full of confidence as both men went 2-1 and came within mere points of being undefeated and winning their respective flights. Both athletes went down in heartbreaking super tiebreakers to the eventual champions of their respective flights, Michael Caldwell and Rory Green, both of Yale.

The super tiebreaker would prove to be even more heartbreaking for freshman Sven Vloedgraven. Both his losses came in the super tiebreaker, costing him the flight no. four championship by mere points. Like Levy and Dietz, he also lost to the eventual champion of his flight, which was Connor Dawson of Yale. Vloedgraven went 1-2 in his collegiate debut, defeating Army’s Jordan Girdley 6-2, 6-3 in his third match.

The super tiebreaker system replaced the traditional third set in a majority of the matches due to the time constraints of each athlete playing six matches over the course of two days. Cohen seemed frustrated with the super tiebreaker system saying that it was ‘not a true indicator of a third set.’

He did, however, acknowledge that the other three teams had to deal with the same system and that he will have his team practice super tiebreaker scenarios from now on.

In addition to amazing singles play, the doubles play looked solid and promising. Dietz and Mohamed yet again proved they are a dangerous duo as they came one point away from winning the flight one title, losing 9-8 to Caldwell and Dawson in the deciding match. Levy and Vloedgraven also went 2-1 in doubles action, losing the decisive third game of flight 2 to another Yale duo. Danielsson teamed with senior Jon Bonnet to go 1-2 in flight No. 4 doubles.

‘It was a good weekend that was a couple of points here and there from a great weekend,’ Cohen said.

His outlook on the Bearcats’ upcoming season is very optimistic. The second-year coach made improving the team’s depth his top priority this past offseason after the 2006-2007 team was hit hard with injuries and struggled to adequately replace the injured stars.

‘We have good depth overall ‘ much better skill all the way down [the depth chart] than last season,’ boasted the coach.

The Bearcats continue their preseason this upcoming weekend at the ITA East Regional hosted by Princeton.