Women's Tennis Weekly Release

Andreea Novaceanu

Bulls Open MAC Play With Easy Victory

The University at Buffalo women’s tennis team began Mid-American Conference play this past weekend with an easy 7-0 victory at Northern Illinois. The Bulls, who were picked to finish first in the MAC during the preseason, won all six singles matches in straight sets and took all three doubles matches.

Bulls Take Six In Straight Sets

The Bulls won all six of their singles matches in straight sets, with just two sets going into tiebreakers. Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) won her match at number one, 6-3, 6-1, while Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) took her match at second singles, 6-2, 6-1. Diana Popescu (Alexandria, Romania/AL. I. Cuza), who picked up her team-leading 19th singles win of the year, won her match at number three, 6-0, 7-6 (4), while Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic), who has 18 victories on the year, finished her number four match with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Diana Toia (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) won their matches at fifth and sixth singles, 7-6 (2), 6-3 and 6-0, 6-3, respectively.

Diana Popescu

Bulls Sweep Doubles Play As Well

All six of the UB players that scored singles victories were also victorious in double play. Popescu and Harijanto teamed up at number one doubles for a 9-8 (4) win, while Stan and Toia won their match at number two doubles, 9-8 (3). UB’s senior duo of Novaceanu and Jacob were victorious at third doubles, winning 8-2.

Up Next

The Bulls finally return home for the first time in over a month as they host a pair of Mid-American Conference opponents. The Bulls will host Ball State on Friday afternoon at 1:00 pm and will then host Miami (OH) at 1:00 pm on Saturday.