Bulls' Title Hopes Dashed as UB Falls in MAC Championship

Andreea Novaceanu

HAMILTON, OH – The title dreams of the University at Buffalo women’s tennis team were dashed Sunday afternoon as the Bulls fell to Western Michigan, 4-0, in the championship match of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The final match was played at Hamilton’s Riverside Athletic Club after rain forced the contest to be moved indoors from the Miami (OH) campus.

The Bulls (16-5) fell behind early as Western Michigan (20-5) won the doubles point with victories in the numbers one and two matches. At number one, UB’s Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) fell to Carrie Jeanmaire and Malena Remynse, 8-4. At number two, UB’s Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) lost to Reedhina Parekh and Kerstin Pahl, 8-1. Play was stopped before the number three match was completed. In the match, UB’s Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) and Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) trailed Norika Saruta and Rattiya Hiranrat, 6-3.

Western Michigan won the bottom three matches to claim its sixth overall MAC title and first since 2000 to claim the automatic NCAA Championships bid, although UB appeared to be on its way to winning at least two of the matches when play was halted.

In the number four match, Ortman fell to Hiranrat, the eventual tournament MVP, 6-1, 6-1. At number five, Fischer was defeated by Priyanka Parekh, 6-3, 6-4. In the number six match, UB’s Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) lost to Pahl, the MAC Freshman of the Year by a 6-4, 6-2 margin.

UB led the number one match and was headed into a third set in the number two match as WMU clinched the fourth point. Novaceanu, an All-MAC first team selection, at number one, won the first set over MAC Player of the Year and first-teamer Remynse in a tiebreaker and was up 3-2 in the second set. Novaceanu needed to rally in the first set to force the tiebreaker after trailing 5-2.

Miglena Nenova

In another battle of All-MAC first team members, Nenova and Jeanmaire split the first two sets of the number two contest. Jeanmaire opened with a 6-3 win in the first set before Nenova stormed back for a 6-4 win in the second set. The third set was about to start when play was stopped.

In the number three match, WMU’s Reedhina Parekh, an All-MAC second team honoree, led Dean, 6-4, 5-2 when play was stopped.

Following the match, the league announced its all-tournament team. Novaceanu and Nenova were among the seven players included on the team. Western Michigan placed Priyanka Parekh and Pahl as well as MAC Championship MVP Hiranrat. Also on the all-tournament team were Eastern Michigan’s Vanessa Frankowski and Miami’s Remy Swain.

The UB loss snaps the Bulls’ eight-match winning streak. The top-seeded Broncos went undefeated through the MAC regular season and tournament play with 11 victories. UB, the second seed in the MAC Tournament, dropped a 6-1 decision to WMU in Kalamazoo on March 24 in the conference opener for both squads.

Although the Bulls were defeated on Sunday, head coach Kathy Twist had nothing but praise for her players. "It was a hard fight," said the MAC Coach of the Year.

After the match, the team gathered for photographs with the runner-up award. "Instead of saying ‘cheese’, they said ‘next year’," said Twist.

1 Carrie Jeanmaire/Malena Remynse (WMU) d. Andreea Novaceanu/Tina Jacob (UB), 8-4

2 Reedhina Parekh/Kerstin Pahl (WMU) d. Miglena Nenova/Kristen Ortman (UB), 8-1

3 Norika Saruta/Rattiya Hiranrat (WMU) led Natalie Dean/Katrin Fischer (UB), 6-3 DNF

1 Andreea Novaceanu (UB) led Malena Remynse (WMU), 7-6 (3), 3-2 DNF

2 Miglena Nenova (UB) tied Carrie Jeanmaire (WMU), 3-6, 6-4, 0-0 DNF

3 Reedhina Parekh (WMU) led Natalie Dean (UB), 6-4, 5-2

4 Rattiya Hiranrat (WMU) d. Kristen Ortman (UB), 6-1, 6-1

5 Priyanka Parekh (WMU) d. Katrin Fischer (UB), 6-3, 6-4

6 Kerstin Pahl (WMU) d. Smaranda Stan (UB), 6-4, 6-2