Women's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Score Win Over Duquesne in Home Opener

Although there were several inches of snow on the ground, the University at Buffalo's women's tennis team played its home opener of the spring season on Saturday with a 7-0 victory over visiting Duquesne. The match was played indoors at the Village Glen Tennis Center. The Bulls remain undefeated with a 5-0 mark, the most wins to start a season since the 1995-96 campaign that saw the team score 14 straight dual meet wins en route to a 15-4 season.

Doubles Squads Rally to Claim Opening Point

Katrin Fischer

The Bulls swept all three doubles matches but it took a little bit of an effort to put away the Dukes. UB’s top doubles duo of Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) had no trouble in defeating Duquesne’s Jacqueline Hughes and Rebecca Poole, 8-1. The Bulls clinched the point as the number three duo of Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) and Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) rallied from a 4-2 deficit to win the next six games for an 8-2 victory over Andrea Sailer and Alex Albano. It was the first time since the Bulls’ dual meet opener that Stan and Fischer had been paired together. With the doubles point in hand, UB's number two team of Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) finished off the sweep but needed a tiebreaker to down Johanna Bezjak and Rachel McGowan 8-7 (5).

Nenova Ties Ortman For Career Singles Wins

Miglena Nenova

Senior Miglena Nenova collected her ninth singles win of the season and the 59th of her career as she scored a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jacqueline Hughes. The victory tied current UB assistant coach Kristen Ortman's all-time singles victory record at 59. Nenova also collected some kudos from the Mid-American Conference when she was named as the league’s Women’s Tennis Player of the Week in leading the Bulls past 75th-ranked Syracuse and Niagara. Nenova became UB’s all-time winningest doubles player in the fall and now has 64 wins in her career, including 13 with current partner Denise Harijanto.

Harijanto Gets Her First Shot in the Top Spot

Denise Harijanto

In singles UB rolled to six wins, scoring straight set wins in four matches. One of those matches was the number one contest as freshman Denise Harijanto scored an easy 6-0, 6-2 win over Johanna Bezjak. It was the first time in her career that Harijanto had played at the top spot on the singles ladder. Harijanto, who has also seen singles action in the number three and four slots is 11-4 this season.

Heading to Central New York for Weekend Contests

The homestand was a short one for the Bulls as they travel to Central New York with dates against Colgate and Cornell this weekend. UB faces the Raiders on Saturday at 3:00 pm in Hamilton, then travels to Ithaca for a 2:00 pm date with the Big Red on Sunday. Sunday’s match against Cornell will be preceeded by a UB men’s match with the Big Red.