Andreea Novaceanu

BUFFALO, NY - Buoyed by five victories in six singles matches, the University at Buffalo defeated Northern Illinois, 5-2, in Mid-American Conference women's tennis action on Friday at the Village Glen Tennis Club in Williamsville, NY. The Bulls are now 7-3 overall and 3-2 in MAC play while the Huskies fall to 4-7 and 0-4 in the league. The three MAC wins by the Bulls this season are the most since the program joined the league in 1999.

After dropping the doubles point, UB came alive in singles play. Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) got things rolling for the Bulls with a second-set comeback to down Cassie Drake, 6-2, 6-4, at first singles. Novaceanu trailed Drake 4-2 in the second set before rattling off four consecutive games to take the match.

At number two, Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) needed a super-tiebreaker victory to down Ivonne Andrade. The pair split 6-4 decisions in the first two sets with Nenova winning four of the final five games of the second set to force the super-tiebreaker. Nenova took control of the extra session, winning 10-8, to claim the match.

Kristen Ortman

UB also picked up wins at third singles from Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst), fourth singles from Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) and sixth singles from Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC). Ortman defeated Christy Svetlic, 6-2, 7-6 (5). Fischer rolled past Daniela Martinez, 6-3, 6-2. Jacob knocked off Megan Brooks, 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The lone UB loss of the singles matches was at number five as Sabrina Carmona (Sao Paulo, Brazil/MMDC) was downed by Dora Delgadillo, 6-1, 7-5.

Northern Illinois claimed the doubles point with two wins in the three matches. UB's top doubles duo of Novaceanu and Ortman were the only Bulls to take a victory as they downed Andrade and Svetlic, 8-5. The Huskies took the second and third doubles matches by identical 8-6 scores. Drake and Martinez downed Nenova and Jacob at number two while Brooks and Delgadillo defeated Fischer and Onessa Williams (Albany, NY/Albany).

In an exhibition match, NIU's Chrissy Nagel defeated UB's Jamie Jackson (Erie, PA/Villa Maria Academy), 8-3.

The Bulls close the home season with a match against MAC-leader Western Michigan. The match is slated for 1:00 pm at the UB Tennis Center. It will the first time this season that the Bulls have been able to play outdoors this season since a 7-0 win over St. Francis (PA) on October 2, 2004.

Buffalo 5, Northern Illinois 2

Doubles

1. Andreea Novaceanu/Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Ivonne Andrade/Christy Svetlic (NIU), 8-5

2. Cassie Drake/Daniela Martinez (NIU) d. Miglena Nenova/Tina Jacob (UB) 8-6

3. Megan Brooks/Dora Delgadillo (NIU) d. Katrin Fischer/Onessa Williams (UB) 8-6

Singles

1. Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Cassie Drake (NIU), 6-2, 6-4

2. Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Ivonne Andrade (NIU), 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)

3. Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Christy Svetlic (NIU), 6-2, 7-6 (5)

4. Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Daniela Martinez (NIU), 6-3, 6-2

5. Dora Delgadillo (NIU) d. Sabrina Carmona (UB) 6-1, 7-5

6. Tina Jacob (UB) d. Megan Brooks (NIU), 7-6 (3), 6-1

E. Chrissy Nagel (NIU) d. Jamie Jackson (UB), 8-3