Continuing its streak of solid play, the Binghamton University men’s tennis team left this weekend’s Cornell Fall Invitational with an impressive 17-11 overall mark.
The Invitational, which pitted Binghamton against opponents from the University at Buffalo, Colgate University and Cornell University, featured seven players from the Binghamton men’s squad. Freshman Alexander Maisin was the star of this weekend’s Invitational for the Bearcats. The rookie reached the finals in both the “White” singles draw and the doubles bracket.
“It was a good weekend for our guys,” Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen said. “Even the older guys lost some really close matches to some good Cornell players. We were right there.”
Maisin won three straight matches on his way to the singles finals, notching wins against three different Cornell players, but he fell in the finals to Cornell junior Spencer Clark, 6-1, 6-3.
Maisin, paired with freshman Eliott Hureau, excelled in doubles play as well. The duo won three straight matches, defeating opponents from Cornell and Colgate. Maisin and Hureau eventually lost in the finals to Cornell, 8-3.
“Our three freshmen played decent,” Cohen said when asked about the team’s overall play. “I’ve seen some improvement from these guys, and that’s a good sign looking forward.”
Maisin finished the weekend with an overall 6-2 record, while Hureau finished at 5-2. Janik Burri, another freshman on the roster, ended the tournament with a 2-2 record in singles play.
Binghamton sophomores Robin Lesage and Ismael Dinia also played well in the doubles bracket. After a tough 8-4 loss to Cornell, Dinia and Lesage fought back to win their next two matches, beating two separate doubles teams from Colgate. Sophomore Florian van Kann and junior Ruben Haggai won their first match against Colgate 8-2, but fell in the next match to the Big Red, 8-2.
While the doubles teams played well over the weekend, Cohen stressed that these tandems are not even close to the final roster assignments.
“Our doubles [teams] are a long way from being determined at this point,” Cohen said. “It’s certainly an area that we’ll continue to try to strive to be better at.”
The Bearcats look ahead to the upcoming ITA Northeast Regional, which is scheduled to start Thursday at Yale University and is the last scheduled tournament for the Bearcats this fall season. The winners of this tournament will get the chance to compete in the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York City Nov. 8-11.
“It’s a big event, all the teams, all the Ivy league schools, everyone in our entire region plays,” Cohen said. “We’re looking forward to playing our best.”