The Binghamton men’s tennis team enters its last two games of conference play on a hot streak after cruising to a 6-1 victory over Colgate. The win extended the Bearcats winning streak to five, their longest of the season.
The Bearcats (12-7, 3-2 Mid American) have played some of their best tennis recently, but have struggled to win the doubles point in most of their matches. On Sunday against Colgate (14-6, 4-2 Patriot League), however, Binghamton was able to win the doubles point for the first time since its March 25 victory over Ball State. BU came out on top in its second and third doubles pairs to get an advantage heading into singles play.
“At second and third doubles we really implemented a lot of the aggressive play we worked on in practice,” Binghamton head coach Nick Zieziula said.
The Bearcats kicked off singles play the same way they started doubles — with a loss. Senior Sid Hazarika lost a tough three-set match in first singles to Raiders sophomore Jacob Daugherty. Although Hazarika dropped the match, the Bearcats responded by winning five straight matches in dominant fashion. Senior Elliot Hureau took three sets to win in second singles before each other Bearcat won his match in straight sets. Zieziula was a happier with his team’s performance this weekend than he was with their previous matchup against St. Joseph’s last weekend.
“We were a little better than against St. Joe’s,” Zieziula said. “We still missed some opportunities to push ourselves and get a little bit better, but we’ve made winning happen the past couple of weeks.”
Binghamton will try to finish conference play strong as it still has two games remaining, both of which are against teams with .500 records in the MAC. With the way they have been playing paired with the experience of veterans like Hazarika and Hureau, the Bearcats are in a good spot entering the end of conference play.
“Our big goal is not only to qualify for the MAC tournament, but to win that tournament,” Zieziula said. “We were painfully close last year and that’s what we’re trying to hammer home to the guys, to keep trying to improve and tighten up the game regardless of whether it’s a practice day or a match day.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to face Buffalo in a rematch of the 2015 MAC championship match on Thursday. First serve is set for 1 p.m. from the Ellicott Tennis Courts in Buffalo, New York.