Women's Tennis Advances to MAC Semifinals

Natalie Dean

OXFORD, OH – For the first time in school history, the University at Buffalo women’s tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Championships. UB downed Bowling Green, the last squad to defeat the Bulls this season, 4-2, to set up a semifinal tilt with host Miami (OH) on Saturday.

UB (15-4), seeded second in the tournament, won its seventh consecutive match by jumping on the Falcons (14-10) early with a pair of doubles victories. The top UB pair of Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) defeated Jenna Nussbaum and Heidi Romer, 8-6. UB’s number two team of Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) and Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) knocked off BGSU’s sister duo of Ashley and Kelsey Jakupcin, 8-3, to hand the Bulls the opening point. UB’s number three pair of Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) and Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) led Andrea Volle and Andrea Meister, 6-5, when play was stopped after UB clinched the point.

UB won the match with three singles victories. At number one, Novaceanu, who earned All-MAC First Team honors the night before, rolled past Ashley Jakupcin, 6-1, 6-1. It was Novaceanu’s 26th singles win of the season, extending her UB record of single-season victories.

Joining Novaceanu with singles wins were Fischer and Dean. Fischer, at number five, downed Kelsey Jackupcin, 6-0, 6-4. Dean, UB’s number three player, clinched the match with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Romer, giving the Bulls the victory and denying Romer of becoming BGSU’s all-time singles victories leader with 80.

Bowling Green picked up wins in the numbers four and six matches. Meister defeated Ortman, UB’s all-time victories leader, by a 6-4, 6-4 count in the number four match. Stefanie Menoff downed Jacob, 6-3, 6-3, in the number six contest.

One match was left unfinished when UB clinched the victory. Nenova, who also gained All-MAC First Team honors on Thursday, won her first set over Nussbaum and was tied in the second set of their number two match.

The Bulls meet Miami (OH) in Saturday’s semifinal round on the RedHawks’ home court. Miami (12-9) defeated Ball State, 4-1 earlier on Friday. UB gained the tournament’s second seed after defeating the RedHawks, 4-3, last Friday in Buffalo. Top-seeded Western Michigan will face Eastern Michigan in Saturday’s other semifinal.

Buffalo 4, Bowling Green 2
Doubles
1 Andreea Novaceanu/Tina Jacob (UB) d. Jenna Nussbaum/Heidi Romer (BG),8-6
2 Miglena Nenova/Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Ashley Jakupcin/Kelsey Jakupcin (BG), 8-3
3 Natalie Dean/Katrin Fischer (UB) led Andrea Volle/Andrea Meister (BG), 6-5 (DNF)
Singles
1 Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Ashley Jakupcin (BG), 6-1, 6-1
2 Miglena Nenova (UB) led Jenna Nussbaum (BG), 6-3, 5-5 (DNF)
3 Natalie Dean (UB) d. Heidi Romer (BG), 7-5, 6-4
4 Andrea Meister (BG) d. Kristen Ortman (UB), 6-4, 6-4
5 Katrin Fischer (UB) d. Kelsey Jakupcin (BG), 6-0, 6-4
6 Stefanie Menoff (BG) d. Tina Jacob (UB), 6-3, 6-3