Talk about April showers.
After a tremendous month of March, Binghamton’s men’s tennis team has hit a bit of a snag this April. With Friday’s loss dropping them to 1-3 for the month, the team is suffering without their top player, junior Moshe Levy.
The Bearcats were defeated by host Stony Brook, 4-3. The loss to the rival Seawolves puts the Bearcats at 12-7 overall and 1-1 versus conference opponents. Friday night’s victory improved the Seawolves to 14-4 on the season. The two teams split at singles, but Stony Brook won two of three at doubles, taking the decisive fourth point. The Seawolves’ victory was their sixth in a row.
“We have lost a key player to an injury, so everyone has had to move up a spot,” said Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen. “Our doubles play has slipped without Levy in the lineup, and some of the support that has come in at the bottom hasn’t played as well as I would have hoped. We are hopeful to get him back this weekend in time for the tournament, and play with a full lineup for the first time in about a month.”
Freshman Gilbert Wong and sophomore Sven Vloedgraven continue to be bright spots on the team. They have each gone 3-1 in singles play for the month, and have teamed up twice at No. 1 doubles to go 1-1.
“Both of them have had good seasons, including very good dual spring seasons,” said Cohen. “I look forward to their strong play heading into the conference tournament this weekend.”
Vloedgraven’s victories improved his season mark to 24-9 in singles play and 15-4 in duals, while Wong continues to build on his amazing season and is now a team-best 30-7 in singles and 16-3 in duals.
Along with singles wins from Vloedgraven and Wong, the Bearcats’ third point came from an impressive 6-3, 6-4 victory at fourth singles for freshman Alexandre Haggai over Youssef Fassi-Fehri. Fassi-Fehri was the America East Male Performer of the Week of April 7. The 2006 Rookie of the Year has had another strong overall season and will definitely be someone to watch in the America East tournament. Last week’s America East Male Performer of the Week, Stony Brook freshman Bertrand Marcos, won the deciding singles match for the Seawolves, defeating Binghamton University’s Rafael Rodrigues, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
The America East tournament will take place this coming weekend, April 24 to 26, at Yale University. The key to success for the Bearcats lies in health.
“We want to make sure we are healthy, and then hopefully the guys can just go out and take care of business,” Cohen said.
The Bearcats will conclude their regular season this Thursday at home when they take on the Marist Red Foxes at 2 p.m.