Women's Tennis Drops MAC Match to Western Michigan, 6-1

Katrin Fischer

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University at Buffalo and Western Michigan University, both unbeaten in Mid-American Conference play this season, squared off for the first time since the Bulls lost last season’s MAC championship final. Although the Bulls put forth a strong effort, they fell to the Broncos, 6-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Village Glen Tennis Center.

The loss snaps UB’s five-match winning streak and puts the Bulls at 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the MAC. Western Michigan, ranked at number 62 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, moved to 14-6 overall and 3-0 in the league. The Broncos have now won four straight this season and 21 consecutive MAC regular season matches.

The Bulls scored a singles victory with number six Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) knocking off Emily Dudzik, 6-3, 6-3. Fischer, a senior, improved to 13-4 in singles play and has won both MAC matches in which she played.

The number one match needed a super-tiebreaker in the third set to decide the outcome. UB senior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) won the opening set against Carrie Jeanmaire, 6-4. Jeanmaire came back to win the second set, 6-2, and force the super-tiebreaker. In the breaker, Jeanmaire jumped out to a 6-1 lead before Nenova narrowed the gap to 7-5. However, Jeanmaire won the next three points, including the final two on close line calls, to win the breaker, 10-5, and the match.

UB’s doubles tandem of Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Denise Harijanto (Jarkarta, Indonesia) scored a win in the number one match, although the Bulls were unable claim the doubles point. Novaceanu and Harijanto raced out to 3-0 lead but needed to come from 6-5 deficit to defeat Ashley Moccia and Noriko Saruta, 8-6.

The Bulls next face Akron on Friday, April 6 at 1:00 pm.

Western Michigan 6, Buffalo 1

Doubles

1 Andreea Novaceanu/Denise Harijanto (UB) d. Ashley Moccia/Noriko Saruta (WMU), 8-6

2 Kerstin Pahl/Priyanka Parekh (WMU) d. Miglena Nenova/Natalie Dean (UB), 8-5

3 Emily Dudzik/Carrie Jeanmaire (WMU) d. Tina Jacob/Smaranda Stan (UB), 8-1

Order of finish: 3 2 1

Singles

1 Carrie Jeanmaire (WMU) d. Miglena Nenova (UB), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-5)

2 Kerstin Pahl (WMU) d. Denise Harijanto (UB), 6-1, 6-2

3 Priyanka Parekh (WMU) d. Andreea Novaceanu (UB), 6-1, 6-0

4 Noriko Saruta (WMU) d. Natalie Dean (UB), 6-1, 7-5

5 Ashley Moccia (WMU) d. Smaranda Stan (UB), 6-4, 6-1

6 Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Emily Dudzik (WMU), 6-3, 6-3

Order of finish: 2 3 6 4 5 1