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Bulls Rally to Defeat Bowling Green, 4-3

Miglena Nenova

BUFFALO, NY – After spotting Bowling Green the opening doubles point, the University at Buffalo women's tennis team rallied to win the first four singles matches to be completed and hold on for a 4-3 win over the Falcons at UB's University Tennis Club on Friday afternoon. The win extends UB's current streak to five matches and keeps the Bulls unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play.

The Bulls (11-1, 3-0 MAC) picked up four straight singles wins in claim the match. In the number one match, senior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) quickly disposed of Ashley Jakupcin, 6-1, 6-0 to tie the match at 1-1. Nenova, UB's all-time singles and doubles victory leader, remains unbeaten at first singles this season at 7-0 (15-3 overall).

Natalie Dean

Senior Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) then put UB in front, 2-1, with her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jenna Nussbaum in the number four match.

Freshman Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) scored a quick 6-0 first set win over Samantha Kintzel in the number two match. However, Kintzel came back with a 6-4 win in the second set to force a third set. The two were on serve through the first seven games before Harijanto broke Kintzel's serve in the eighth game and closed out the match on her racquet, 6-3.

Junior Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorge, Romania/Economic) clinched the match for the Bulls in dramatic fashion. Stan needed a first-set tiebreaker to defeat Katia Babina, winning the breaker, 7-3. She then finished the match with a 7-5 decision in the second set. The win is Stan's 18th in singles play this season to lead the Bulls in the category.

Smaranda Stan

Bowling Green (9-5, 1-1 MAC) scored third-set victories in the number three and six matches after the Bulls had secured the fourth point. Kelsey Jakupcin defeated UB's Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) at number three while Stefanie Menoff downed Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) in the number six contest.

The Falcons, whose four-match win streak was snapped on Friday, won the doubles point as Kelsey Jakupcin and Nussbaum rallied from a 7-5 deficit to beat Novaceanu and Harijanto in a tiebreaker in the number one match. Nenova and Dean won the number two match over Babina and Andrea Volle to remain unbeaten as a tandem at 5-0.

The Bulls tangle with Western Michigan tomorrow at 1:00 pm at the University Tennis Center. The contest is a rematch of last season's MAC championship and pits the two squads selected by the league coaches to be at the head of the conference standings this season.

Buffalo 4, Bowling Green 3

Doubles

1 Kelsey Jakupcin/Jenna Nussbaum (BGSU) d. Andreea Novaceanu/Denise Harijanto (UB), 9-8 (5)

2 Miglena Nenova/Natalie Dean (UB) d. Katia Babina/Andrea Volle (BGSU), 8-4

3 Samantha Kintzel/Stefanie Menoff (BGSU) d. Katrin Fischer/Diana Toia (UB), 8-2

Order of finish: 3 2 1

Singles

1 Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Ashley Jakupcin (BGSU), 6-1, 6-0

2 Denise Harijanto (UB) d. Samantha Kintzel (BGSU), 6-0, 4-6, 6-3

3 Kelsey Jakupcin (BGSU) d. Andreea Novaceanu (UB), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3

4 Natalie Dean (UB) d. Jenna Nussbaum (BGSU), 6-3, 6-3

5 Smaranda Stan (UB) d. Katia Babina (BGSU), 7-6 (3), 7-5

6 Stefanie Menoff (BGSU) d. Tina Jacob (UB), 2-6, 6-4, 6-1

Order of finish: 1 4 2 5 3 6