After winning two dual matches in a row, the Binghamton University women’s tennis team will look to get its winning percentage above .500 this weekend when it takes on conference opponents University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Boston University. The Bearcats will travel to UMBC to take on the Retrievers tomorrow before heading to St. John’s University to take on the Terriers Sunday.
The Bearcats (7-8) are coming off an impressive dual match victory at their only home meet of the season. They defeated Fairleigh Dickinson University 4-3, getting four singles victories and welcoming the return to action of senior Lauren Bates following a shoulder injury. According to head coach Libby McGovern, the lineups for the weekend will not deviate from those of the most recent matches, meaning the order of the singles players will likely be: senior Anna Edelman, junior Jillian Santos, Bates, senior Yulia Smirnova, junior Marina Bykovskaya and junior Emma Leibowicz.
Binghamton’s host UMBC (8-7) will be looking to get a victory after tough losses to Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Atlantic University in late March, dropping each by the score of 4-3. The Retrievers’ March 31 match versus University of Richmond was postponed. The team is 1-1 on the UMBC courts this year, boasting a 7-0 victory over University of Hartford on March 12.
The Bearcats will then travel to St. John’s on Sunday to face perennial powerhouse Boston (9-7), who will be in Queens tomorrow to take on the St. John’s team. The Terriers were slated to take on University of Massachusetts on April 1, but the match was cancelled. They defeated University of Cincinnati 4-3 in their last dual match, played on March 23. Boston junior Stefanie Nunic was named America East Player of the Week for her performance as she dominated her singles match 6-0, 6-0. She has won her last 11 matches in straight sets. On Feb. 9, Boston earned an impressive victory over No. 64 Dartmouth College 4-3, winning the doubles point and splitting the singles points. Boston has won the America East tournament 16 times in a row.
McGovern has stressed focus and discipline as the regular season winds down. She said that in training for the upcoming dual matches, the team would focus on situational decision-making — knowing what the score is, recognizing trends in the opponent’s game and identifying how the match is being played.
“We’ve got UMBC and Boston,” McGovern said. “We know that they’re going to be good teams; they’re going to be solid from [position] one to six. And we need to go out there and we need to play at a high level and a consistent high level.”
Matches are set to begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow. The match against Boston is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Sunday.