The Binghamton men’s tennis team saw its NCAA tournament appearance end early on Friday, as No. 2 seed University of Georgia swept the Bearcats 4-0 in the tournament’s first round. The Bulldogs (23-4) took the first two doubles matches to capture the point before setting down three straight Bearcats (16-10) in singles action to secure the victory.
America East Rookie of the Year Sid Hazarika and senior Bastian Bornkessel suffered the opening loss in doubles play, falling 8-1 to the fifth-ranked duo of Hernus Pieters and Ben Wagland. Hazarika would later drop the No. 1 singles match to Wagland, who is ranked No. 33 in singles. The loss was only Hazarika’s second since taking over the top singles spot at the end of March.
Junior Ruben Haggai and freshman Eliott Hureau took the second doubles loss, dropping an 8-4 bout with the No. 15 ranked Bulldog tandem of Garrett Brasseaux and Nathan Pasha.
Haggai entered Friday’s match riding 14 consecutive wins and earning the Most Outstanding Player award at the America East Championship. The contest was called before he could complete his singles match on Friday.
Sophomores Ismael Dinia and Robin Lesage also had their doubles match end unfinished after Georgia secured the doubles point. In singles play, Lesage dropped his match from the No. 3 spot, falling 6-2, 6-2.
Hureau suffered Binghamton’s third singles loss, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Marco Nunez in the sixth spot.
At the No. 2 seed, Georgia was the highest-ranked opponent BU has faced in program history, and Friday marked the Bulldogs’s 30th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. They advanced despite the news earlier last week that the team’s best player and the No. 4 singles player in the country, senior KU Singh, was quitting the team and returning to India on the eve of Georgia’s NCAA run, according to the Georgia newspaper, Ledger-Enquirer. Singh’s decision bumped the remainder of the team up in the lineup.
Friday’s match marked the sixth straight NCAA appearance, and ninth in the past 11 years, for the Bearcats, who captured the America East title on April 28 with a 4-0 sweep of UMBC in the finals.