Women's Tennis Falls to Western Michigan

Bulls open Mid-American Conference schedule with 6-1 loss to defending champs

Andreea Novaceanu

KALAMAZOO, MI – The University at Buffalo women's tennis team opened the Mid-American Conference portion of its schedule Friday afternoon with a 6-1 loss to preseason favorite and nationally-ranked Western Michigan. The Bulls are now 8-3 overall and 0-1 in the MAC while the Broncos, ranked 67th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll and defending league champion, improve to 10-4 and 1-0 MAC. The match was played indoors at Kalamazoo's West Hills Athletic Club.

UB picked up two wins in the match, a singles victory and a doubles triumph, off the racquet of sophomore Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita). Novaceanu, who won the MAC's Player of the Week award two weeks ago, defeated this week's Player of the Week, WMU's Reedhina Parekh in straight sets at third singles. After a 6-2 win in the opening set, Novaceanu needed a 7-5 tiebreaker victory to take the match. The win was Novaceanu's 20th of the season in singles play and seventh straight triumph. She has not lost a singles match since February 10 against Syracuse.

Novaceanu and sophomore Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) also claimed the number two doubles match with an 8-5 win over Rattiya Hiranrat and Noriko Saruta. UB was unable to clinch a second doubles victory to score the match's first point as WMU took victories at the first and third slots.

Western Michigan took the remainder of the singles matches in straight sets with junior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and senior Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) picking up the most games won against their opponents. Nenova, at number one, fell to Malena Remynse, 6-3, 6-4. Ortman, at number two, was defeated by Carrie Jeanmaire, 6-4, 7-5.

The Bulls travel to Bowling Green to face the Falcons in MAC play at 1:00 pm on Saturday.

#67 Western Michigan 6, Buffalo 1

Doubles

1 Carrie Jeanmaire/Malena Remynse (WMU) d. Natalie Dean/Kristen Ortman (UB), 8-2

2 Andreea Novaceanu/Tina Jacob (UB) d. Rattiya Hiranrat/Noriko Saruta (WMU), 8-5

3 Reedhina Parekh/Kerstin-Beeke Pahl (WMU) d. Smaranda Stan/Miglena Nenova (UB), 8-5

Order of finish: 1 2 3

Singles

1 Malena Remynse (WMU) d. Miglena Nenova (UB), 6-3, 6-4

2 Carrie Jeanmaire (WMU) d. Kristen Ortman (UB), 6-4, 7-5

3 Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Reedhina Parekh (WMU), 6-2, 7-6 (5)

4 Rattiya Hiranrat (WMU) d. Natalie Dean (UB), 6-1, 6-2

5 Priyanka Parekh (WMU) d. Smaranda Stan (UB), 6-2, 6-1

6 Kerstin-Beeke Pahl (WMU) d. Tina Jacob (UB), 6-0, 6-0

Order of finish: 5 6 4 1 3 2

03/24/2006