Bulls Ground Toledo Rockets, 6-1

Women's tennis team sweeps singles matches to rally for victory

Natalie Dean

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University at Buffalo women’s tennis team used six victories in singles play to defeat visiting Toledo, 6-1, Saturday afternoon at the Village Glen Tennis Center in Mid-American Conference action. The Bulls stand 10-4 overall and evened their MAC record to 2-2 while Toledo slipped to 12-5, 3-2 MAC.

The Bulls swept all six singles matches to get past the Rockets after dropping the opening doubles point. UB opened singles play as number three Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) easily downed Viviana Rivero, 6-3, 6-1. Number one player Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) then scored UB's second point with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Myriam Cueva. The victory for Novaceanu was her 10th straight singles triumph and improved her overall record to 23-4.

Andreea Novaceanu

At third singles, Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) downed Eunice Paravicini, 6-3, 7-5 for the third point. At just about the same time, UB clinched the match as Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) defeated Sarah VanderMolen in the number six match, 7-6 (3), 6-0, to give the Bulls a 4-1 edge.

The number four and five matches continued the winning streak for the Bulls even though the final outcome had been decided. At number five, Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) needed a full three sets to defeat Sarah Horning, rallying from a loss in the opening set. Stan took the match, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Katrin Fischer

Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) finished the sweep in a third-set super-tiebreaker downing Jenny Belsky in a match that lasted about three and a half hours. The pair split the first two sets with Fischer taking a 7-4 tiebreaker in the first set before Belsky forced the super-tiebreaker with 6-4 second set decision. In the 10-point super-tiebreaker, Fischer rallied from a 5-2 deficit to win 10-6 and give the Bulls the victory.

UB won one of three doubles matches, unable to secure the opening point. UB's number three team of Dean and Fischer, paired for the first time this season, knocked off Horning and VanderMolen, 8-5. At number one, UB's Novaceanu and Jacob fell to Cueva and Paravicini, 8-3, while the number two tandem of Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) and Nenova were defeated by Belsky and Rivero, 8-5.

The Bulls travel to Akron on Tuesday at 2:00 pm to face the Zips in MAC play.

Buffalo 6, Toledo 1

Doubles

1 Myriam Cueva/Eunice Paravicini (UT) d. Andreea Novaceanu/Tina Jacob (UB), 8-3

2 Jenny Belsky/Viviana Rivero (UT) d. Kristen Ortman/Miglena Nenova (UB), 8-5

3 Natalie Dean/Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Sarah Horning/Sarah VanderMolen (UT), 8-5

Order of finish: 3 2 1

Singles

1 Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Myriam Cueva (UT), 6-4, 7-5

2 Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Eunice Paravicini (UT), 6-3, 7-5

3 Natalie Dean (UB) d. Viviana Rivero (UT), 6-3, 6-1

4 Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Jenny Belsky (UT), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)

5 Smaranda Stan (UB) d. Sarah Horning (UT), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

6 Tina Jacob (UB) d. Sarah VanderMolen (UT), 7-6 (3), 6-0

Order of finish: 3 1 2 6 5 4

04/08/2006