Women's Tennis Clinches Second Place

Bulls defeat Ball State, 5-2, in regular season finale

Kristen Ortman

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women's tennis team clinched its highest finish in the Mid-American Conference regular season with a 5-2 win over visiting Ball State, Saturday afternoon, at the University Tennis Club. The Bulls secured the second seed in next weekend's MAC Championships with a 6-2 league record and now stand at 14-4 overall. Ball State fell to 9-11 overall and 3-5 in league play.

UB opened play by winning two of the three doubles matches to collect the opening point. UB's number two and three duos scored easy wins. Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) and Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) downed Katie Owens and Jennifer Pollack, 8-5, in the number two contest. At number three, Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston) and Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) scored an 8-2 win over Emma Retter and Rachel Lemar. Ball State won the number one match in tiebreaker. Jessica Thompson and Haly Calderwood defeated UB's top tandem of Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC), 7-5 in the breaker to score an 8-7 win. The tiebreaker began after both teams reached 7-7 because UB had already clinched the doubles point.

In singles play, the Bulls picked up four wins to take the match, highlighted by Ortman's 6-4, 6-4 win over Owens in the number four match. The lone senior on the UB roster, Ortman walked off the home court for the final time with her 59th career singles win, most in school history.

Miglena Nenova

Other UB singles victories included Nenova defeating Pollack, 6-1, 6-2 in the number two match. Fischer rallied to down Retter in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5, at number five. Jacob rolled past Lemar, 6-2, 6-0, in the number six contest. In an eight-game pro-set exhibition, UB's Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) defeated Sarah West, 8-0. Ball State's Thompson pulled the upset in the number one match, defeating Novaceanu, 6-4, 6-3. Dean fell in a three-set contest to Calderwood, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

The Bulls head into the MAC Championships in Oxford, OH as the number two seed by virtue of this weekend's wins over Miami (OH) and Ball State. The Bulls will face Bowling Green, one of two MAC teams to defeat UB this season, on Friday. Bowling Green tied with Ball State for sixth place with a 3-5 MAC mark but based on the Falcons' 4-3 loss to the Cardinals on March 31, Bowling Green gets the seventh seed.

The MAC Championship opens with the 8-9 matchup between Akron and Northern Illinois on Thursday. UB will hit the court against Bowling Green on Friday, April 29 at 2:00 p.m.

Buffalo 5, Ball State 2

Doubles

1 Jessica Thompson/Haly Calderwood (BSU) d. Andreea Novaceanu/Tina Jacob (UB), 8-7 (5)

2 Kristen Ortman/Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Katie Owens/Jennifer Pollack (BSU), 8-5

3 Natalie Dean/Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Emma Retter/Rachel Lemar (BSU), 8-2

Order of finish: 3 2 1

Singles

1 Jessica Thompson (BSU) d. Andreea Novaceanu (UB), 6-4, 6-3

2 Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Jennifer Pollack (BSU), 6-1, 6-2

3 Haly Calderwood (BSU) d. Natalie Dean (UB), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

4 Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Katie Owens (BSU), 6-4, 6-4

5 Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Emma Retter (BSU), 7-5, 7-5

6 Tina Jacob (UB) d. Rachel Lemar (BSU), 6-2, 6-0

E Smaranda Stan (UB) d. Sarah West (BSU), 8-0

Order of finish: 6 2 1 4 3 5

04/22/2006