Miglena Nenova

ROCKFORD, IL – The University at Buffalo women’s tennis team opened a two-match weekend road trip with a 4-3 loss to Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois on Friday afternoon at the Clock Tower Inn and Resort in Rockford, IL. With the loss, the Bulls drop to 7-5 overall (0-3 in the MAC), snapping a three-match win streak. The Huskies evened both their overall and league records at 5-5 overall and 1-1 in the MAC.

The match started with Northern Illinois sweeping the doubles competition to securing the first point. At number one, UB’s Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) fell to Branka Savic and Ivonne Andrade, 8-4. At number two, Michelle Kollarova (Bratislava, Slovak Republic/Sport Gymnasium) and Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) were defeated by Cassie Drake and Karrie Tyioran, 8-1. UB’s number three duo of Lisa Wittman (Cheektowaga, NY/Cheektowaga) and Sheri Ugowski (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) fell to Kristi McIntyre and Megan Brooks, 8-3.

Kristen Ortman

The teams split the six singles matches down the middle with each winning three, but because NIU picked up the doubles point, the Huskies were able to escape with the win.

UB picked up singles wins at the top two slots. Nenova remained perfect in dual match singles play but it wasn’t easy as she had to win a third set tiebreaker over Drake. Nenova won the first set, 6-3, but lost the second 4-6 to force the ten-point tiebreaker. The freshman then scored a 10-6 win to get the Bulls on the scoreboard. Nenova is now 12-0 in dual meets and 16-3 overall.

Ortman raised her overall record to 14-6 and 8-0 at number two with a straight sets victory over Savic, 6-0, 6-2.

Northern Illinois took a 3-2 match lead with victories at third and fourth singles. At number three, UB’s Fischer fell to Tyioran, 6-0, 6-1, while at number four, Wittman was defeated by Andrade, 6-2, 6-1.

Michelle Kollarova

UB rallied to tie the match at 3-3 with a come-from-behind win by Kollarova at number five. Kollarova dropped the first set to McIntyre, 6-2 but then won the final two sets, 6-4, 6-2, to notch her 10^th singles win of the year.

The match came down to the number six tilt between UB’s Onessa Williams (Albany, NY/Albany/Mohawk Valley CC) and NIU’s Dani Martinez, neither of whom saw action in the earlier doubles action. Unfortunately, UB’s hopes of a key road win were dash as Williams fell in straight sets to Martinez, 6-3, 6-1.

UB travels to Western Michigan for a MAC match tomorrow against the Broncos. Match time is 1 pm.

Northern Illinois 4, Buffalo 3

Doubles

1 Branka Savic/Ivonne Andrade (NIU) d. Miglena Nenova/Kristen Ortman (UB), 8-4

2 Cassie Drake/Karrie Tyioran (NIU) d. Michelle Kollarova/Katrin Fischer (UB), 8-1

3 Kristi McIntyre/Megan Brooks (NIU) d. Lisa Wittman/Sheri Ugowski (UB), 8-3

Singles

1 Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Cassie Drake (NIU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (6)

2 Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Branka Savic (NIU), 6-0, 6-2

3 Karrie Tyioran (NIU) d. Katrin Fischer (UB), 6-0, 6-1

4 Ivonne Andrade (NIU) d. Lisa Wittman (UB), 6-2, 6-1

5 Michelle Kollarova (UB) d. Kristi McIntyre (NIU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2

6 Dani Martinez (NIU) d. Onessa Williams (UB), 6-3, 6-1