The Binghamton men’s tennis team couldn’t find the love this weekend, dropping matches on the road to both No. 59 VCU and William & Mary.
On Friday, Binghamton (2-4, 0-2 Mid-American) grabbed the doubles point as well as the first two singles points against the Rams (10-3, 1-0 Atlantic-10). But BU couldn’t hold on as VCU staged a comeback, winning the next four singles points to take the match, 4-3.
Opening the doubles round for BU were junior Sid Hazarika and senior Ismael Dinia, who won their match, 6-4. After dropping the second match, sophomores Thomas Caputo and Vihar Shah ensured another win in the doubles segment with their 6-3 victory.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth in our doubles,” Binghamton head coach Nick Zieziula said.
Hazarika and senior Robin Lesage opened the singles portion of play by winning the first and second matches for Binghamton. Hazarika overpowered VCU junior Michal Voscek 6-4, 6-4, while Lesage dominated his first set, 6-0, before his opponent, VCU junior Joseph Cohen, retired from the match due to injury.
But despite an impressive opening, BU dropped the following four matches in the singles round, handing VCU the victory.
With six points available in the six singles matches, winning the lone doubles point available in the beginning of a match is often the tiebreaker. Despite capturing that point, the Bearcats couldn’t build on the opportunity. However, Zieziula saw the advantage of being put in these must-win situations early in the season.
“The longer the season goes, the more we steal those points early in the match,” Zieziula said. “Those points are going to pay off.”
Binghamton tried to bring the momentum from its near-upset on Friday into Saturday’s match against William & Mary (10-5). However, the Tribe proved too much for the Bearcats to handle, as Binghamton dropped the match, 5-0.
The Bearcats were unable to get anything going early against the home team, and William & Mary capitalized on BU’s faults through the entire match.
Still adjusting to a new conference and coach, Zieziula acknowledged that there would be some growing pains for the Bearcats. But given the long stretch of non-conference games scheduled before the opening of MAC play on April 1, BU has plenty of time to get settled.
“Our schedule works out well for us,” Zieziula said. “We can really just focus on the process of getting better every day. At the end of the day, our priority is the [Mid-]American Conference matches.”
The Bearcats are set to head to Dartmouth on Friday to face the Big Green. First match is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Alexis Boss Tennis Center in Hanover, New Hampshire.