Women's Tennis Weekly Release

Dream of a MAC Title Falls Short

Andreea Novaceanu

Heading into the 2006 MAC Championships, UB’s women’s tennis team had never won a tournament match, let alone reached the finals, but the Bulls put together a run that saw the team reach the championship match after convincing wins in the first two rounds. In the quarterfinals, the Bulls, seeded second, disposed of Bowling Green, 4-2. UB then moved into the championship match following a 4-1 win over homestanding Miami (OH) in the semifinals. But the clock struck midnight for the Bulls on Sunday as a stronger Western Michigan team took its sixth MAC title and first since 2000 with a 4-0 decision over the Bulls. The Bulls finish 2005-06 with a 16-5 overall record, the most wins in school history, passing the 1995-96 mark of 15-4.

Dean Boosts Bulls into Semifinals

Natalie Dean

Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) turned out to be the hero of UB’s 4-2 quarterfinal win over Bowling Green. Dean, UB’s number three player, clinched the match against the Falcons with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Heidi Romer. The victory by Dean denied Romer of becoming BGSU’s all-time singles victories leader with 80.

Nenova’s Wins Final Two Sets to Put UB in Finals

Miglena Nenova

Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) sent the Bulls into the championship match with a three-set thriller over Leda Pesatova in the second singles match against Miami. After dropping the opening set, 6-2, the junior took the final two sets, 6-0, 6-2, to give UB the 4-1 victory. Nenova also combined with Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) to clinch the doubles point in the match with an 8-6 win over Remy Swain and Maura Trauernicht.

Honors Abound for Bulls

Kathy Twist

It was a week filled with honors and accolades from the Mid-American Conference for the Bulls. Prior to the tournament, Ortman was named the league’s Player of the Week for her 3-0 mark in the final weekend of the regular season. Then at the tournament banquet, Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Nenova were named to the All-MAC First Team and head coach Kathy Twist was selected the league’s Coach of the Year by her peers. The weekend wrapped up with Novaceanu and Nenova again getting noticed by the league as the pair were named to the all-tournament team.