With a newly constructed tennis complex that brightens the west side of campus, the 2012 Binghamton University women’s tennis team will look to leave a memorable inaugural footprint despite a youth-laden roster.

The Bearcats kicked off the fall season last weekend at the Columbia University Invitational, recording three victories in 16 matches. There was no team scoring at the event, which featured teams from Harvard University, Fairfield University, University of Massachusetts and University of Pennsylvania, alongside Binghamton and host Columbia.

“These tournaments in the fall are all flighted, individual tournaments that all teams use to get their young players some time in,” BU head coach Libby McGovern said. “It’s a great chance for freshmen to get some experience in a college match prior to team duel matches in the spring.”

In their first collegiate singles matches, freshmen Agatha Ambrozy and Sara Kohtz were both edged out by their opponents, with scores of 4-6, 6-4, 9-11 and 3-6, 5-7, respectively.

When asked about the close losses, McGovern stated that Ambrozy and Kohtz showed “a lot of guts, fight and heart.” She went on to say that both losses count as a win in her book.

The Bearcats also struggled in doubles play, losing all three first-round matches by a large margin. Each of the three double teams consisted of at least one freshman. McGovern said she expects the doubles teams to come around with a little more time to practice and gain experience.

Sophomore Katherine Medianik produced the only win for the Bearcats on Friday, taking down senior Nevena Selakovic of St. John’s in three sets (2-6, 6-2, 11-9).

“This was a really positive step for her,” McGovern said. “In her first match last year, she had a rough start, so to be able to bounce back this year against a player of that caliber, lose the first set, and come back to win two straight sets really set the tone for her season.”

Saturday proved to be a better day for BU. Coming off first round losses, Kohtz and fellow freshman Alexis Tashiro earned their first collegiate victories, dominating both of their consolation matches.

Following a first round bye, freshman Shea Brodsky fell after claiming a first game victory. She also lost on Sunday to Harvard junior Natalie Blosser 5-7, 0-6.

With high expectations after the first round, Medianik also concluded Saturday with a loss to Harvard, 2-6, 0-6, which carried over into a one-game playoff that ended in a 4-8 loss to UPenn junior Stephanie Do.

Overall, McGovern said she was pleased with the team’s performance.

“It was a very tough tournament from top to bottom,” McGovern said. “We competed at a very high level. The results may not show it, but when you look deeper into the matches, you can see how hard we battled against some very good competition.”

The Bearcats look to rebound from their first tournament this weekend at the Brown invitational. Boston University, Boston College, Rutgers University and host Brown University are slated to compete alongside BU. Brown is coming off an Ivy League championship year, which included a trip to the NCAA championship.

The tournament is set to start today.