After a disappointing 2-12 start to the season, the Binghamton University men’s tennis team has won four of its last five matches, including victories this weekend over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and George Washington University.
The Bearcats (6-13) tied their largest margin of victory this season as they defeated UMBC (10-5) on Saturday, winning 6-1. Binghamton won all three of its doubles matches to get the doubles point and won five of six singles matches, all by straight sets.
On Sunday, BU pulled off another win, beating GWU (12-8) by a score of 4-3. After yet again securing the doubles point and the top two singles points, the Bearcats were able to win with a solid performance by freshman Ruben Haggai, who won his singles match 6-4, 6-2.
The Bearcats have pulled off this recent surge by improving the things that hurt them most earlier in the season: the doubles point and the bottom of the singles lineup, according to head coach Adam Cohen.
“Three out of the four wins we won the doubles point and also got a win from the bottom of the lineup,” he said. “If we are able to get two team points with the doubles and someone winning at the bottom, I think our chances of winning more matches looks promising.”
Seniors Sven Vloedgraven (No. 101) and Arnav Jain continued their dominance this weekend. Vloedgraven defeated both of his opponents in straight sets, improving his record to 27-7 overall and 16-2 in duals. Jain also defeated both of his opponents in straight sets to improve his record to 21-9 overall and 16-3 in duals.
The success of the two seniors comes at the right time with just four matches left before the America East tournament at the end of April. The team had an incredibly dominant season a year ago as it captured the America East Championship with a 25-2 record and clinched a berth to the NCAA Championships.
“Our goal has always been to play our best tennis as we approach the America East tournament. We will continue to practice hard and work on the areas that need improvement heading into our final matches and our conference tournament,” Cohen said.
If the Bearcats are to make serious noise at the America East Championship, continuing to win the doubles point will be key as it has helped them to secure most of their recent string of victories.
On Saturday BU has its only home matches of the season against University at Buffalo and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Action is set to begin at 11 a.m. and continue at 3 p.m.