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Women's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Claim Three Singles Titles at Cornell Invite

The University at Buffalo's women's tennis season began over the weekend with the Cornell Invitational as three Bulls won singles titles in the tournament's four flights while a pair of doubles squads played in the championship matches in their brackets. All seven of UB's singles players and its four doubles tandems earned either first-round wins or byes to the second round enabling the Bulls to compete in the winners brackets throughout the three-day event.

Andreea Novaceanu

Juniors Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) and Smaranda Stan (Stantu Gheorghe, Romania/Economic) and freshman Diana Toia (Rochester, NY/Brighton) each claimed singles titles in their respective brackets. Doubles tandems Denise Harijanto (Jakarta, Indonesia) and Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) and Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) and Toia reached the finals of the doubles flights falling in the championship matches.

Novaceanu Opens With Singles Flight Title

Novaceanu took the Flight A title with wins over Cornell opponents in the semifinals and finals. In the championship match on Sunday, she defeated Kasia Preneta, 6-3, 6-1 after advancing past Tamara John, 6-4, 7-5, in the semifinals earlier in the day. Novaceanu, who opened play with a bye to the second round, defeated Lehigh's Gwen Dwyer, 6-1, 7-6 (6) in her opening match.

Flight C Belongs to Stan

Smaranda Stan

In the C bracket, Stan needed a third-set super-tiebreaker victory over Cornell's Shayna Miller to claim the title. Stan dropped the opening set in a tiebreaker, but rallied to tie the match with a 6-1 win in the second set. In the 10-point super-tiebreaker, Stan prevailed, defeating Miller 10-7. Stan opened play on Saturday with a victory over Lehigh's Francesca Murasko-Blank and a 13-11 super-tiebreaker victory over Cornell's Dana Cruite. She cruised into the finals on Sunday with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Cornell's Ashley Ebbert in the semifinals.

Toia Wins D Flight Singles Crown

Toia took the D bracket championship with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Army's Kristin Beehler. She reached the finals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Cornell's Weatherly Schwab in the semifinals. On Saturday, she downed Colgate's Jackie Stimmel and Lehigh's Victoria Vityuk on her road to the title.

Doubles Squads Reach Finals

Harijanto and Nenova were stopped in their quest for the Flight A doubles title in a grueling final against Cornell's Catherine Duboc and Miller, 9-8, as the UB duo fell in a tiebreaker, 11-9. Harijanto and Nenova earned a first-round bye and scored two victories on their way to the finals. In the Flight B doubles championship, Dean and Toia were stopped by Marist's sister duo of Alexandra and Cassandra Strange, 8-4. Dean and Toia, like Harijanto and Nenova, picked up a first-round bye before dumping tandems from Lehigh and Cornell to reach the final.