Women's Tennis Takes 6-1 Win Over Northern Illinois

Miglena Nenova

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's tennis team scored a 6-1 victory over visiting Northern Illinois on Friday afternoon at the University Tennis Club to clinch the second seed in next week's Mid-American Conference Championships. The Bulls finish the regular season with a 15-2 overall record and improved to 7-1 in league play.

The Bulls scored the doubles point with a sweep of the three matches. The point was sealed by the number three team of Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) as they extended their winning streak to four matches with an 8-4 victory over Dora Delgadillo and Jenny Edner. The win by the UB pair also broke a six-match win string by Delgadillo and Edner. UB's top tandem of Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) breezed past Megan Brooks and Brooke Forsberg, 8-1.

Tina Jacob

After the doubles point had been cliched, the number two team of Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) rallied from a 6-3 deficit and force a tiebreaker, won the by the UB pair, in downing NIU's Lilian Asuaje and Nao Umemura.

The Bulls then took five of the six singles matches to seal the win. Nenova, in the number one match, had an easy time in defeating Asuaje, 6-1, 6-3. Novaceanu, playing at number three, scored a "double-bagel" win over Umemura, 6-0, 6-0. Dean, at four, and Fischer, at six, also scored shutouts along the way, both winning in straight sets. Dean won her match, 6-0, 6-3, over Forsberg, while Fischer knocked off Brooks, 6-2, 6-0.

Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) won a marathon match over Delgadillo in the number five match. Stan dropped the opening set, 6-1, but came back to win the second set, 6-0, and force the tiebreaker. The two then battled on several long rallies in the super-tiebreaker before Stan was able to put away Delgadillo, 14-12, to win the match.

Northern Illinois (4-11, 0-7 MAC) picked up a singles win when UB's Harijanto was forced to retire from the number two match against Edner with an injury during the first set. Harijanto led 5-4 before the stoppage.

With the win, the Bulls claim the number two seed in next week's MAC Championships in Toledo. They will face the number seven seed in a second-round match on Friday, April 27 at 2:00 pm. UB's opponent is yet to be determined. This is the second consecutive season that the Bulls have earned the number two seeding.

Buffalo 6, Northern Illinois 1

Doubles

1 Andreea Novaceanu/Denise Harijanto (UB) d. Megan Brooks/Brooke Forsberg (NIU), 8-1

2 Miglena Nenova/Natalie Dean (UB) d. Lilian Asuaje/Nao Umemura (NIU), 8-7 (2)

3 Katrin Fischer/Tina Jacob (UB) d. Dora Delgadillo/Jenny Edner (NIU), 8-4

Order of finish: 1 3 2

Singles

1 Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Lillian Asuaje (NIU), 6-1, 6-3

2 Jenny Edner (NIU) d. Denise Harijanto (UB), 4-5 ret.

3 Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Nao Umemura (NIU), 6-0, 6-0

4 Natalie Dean (UB) d. Brooke Forsberg (NIU), 6-0, 6-3

5 Smaranda Stan (UB) d. Dora Delgadillo (NIU), 1-6, 6-0, 1-0 (14-12)

6 Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Megan Brooks (NIU), 6-2, 6-0

Order of finish: 2 6 3 1 4 5