Andreea Novaceanu

HANOVER, NH - The University at Buffalo women's tennis team sent four players to Dartmouth's Big Green Invitational as the Bulls completed the fall portion of the schedule.

UB freshman Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) compiled a perfect 5-0 singles record, without dropping a set, to win the B flight of the tournament. Included in her performance were victories over the top two seeds of the flight in the semifinal and finals. Novaceanu opened the tournament with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Cheryl Hickey, a Coast Guard Academy exchange cadet representing Army. Novaceanu then followed with a second-round win over Hande Gorur of St. John's, 6-3, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, she downed Meredith Woodhouse of Brown, 6-4, 6-1. A semifinal victory, 6-1, 6-3, over second-seeded Barbara Schumsky of Connecticut propelled Novaceanu into the championship match where she met top-seeded Lauren Leo of St. John's. A 6-1, 6-3 victory over Leo gave Novaceanu the flight title and exacted a bit of revenge for UB. Leo defeated UB's Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect) to take the B title in last season's tournament.

Nenova and Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) competed in the A flight with mixed results. Ortman opened with a thrilling 2-6, 7-6(5), (10-6) victory over Boston University's Aimee Charest, but was eliminated in the second round by fifth-seeded Maggie Suydam of Dartmouth, 6-3, 6-1. Nenova opened with a first-round loss to Syracuse's Catherine Zawadzki 6-2, 6-3. In the consolation bracket, Nenova fell to fourth-seeded Gina Sabatino of Boston University, 6-2, 5-7, (10-3).

UB's Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) also competed in the B flight singles bracket. Fischer dropped a 6-4, 6-4 first-round decision to Christine Burek of Connecticut. In the consolation bracket, she defeated New Hampshire's Megan Breen, 6-4, 6-3, before being eliminated by Syracuse's Wei-Ming Leung, 7-5, 0-6, (10-6).

In the doubles competition, Ortman and Nenova picked up an 8-4 opening-round victory over Army's Jennifer Segar and Hickey. The UB duo was then eliminated by Dartmouth's Margaret Fitchet and Suydam, the tournament's fourth seed, 8-4. Novaceanu and Fischer formed UB's other doubles duo, falling to Boston University's Gabrielle Hernandez and Cheri Lapane, 8-6, in the first round. Novaceanu and Fischer then defeated Connecticut's Burek and Jennifer LoRusso, 8-1, in the consolation round.

With the conclusion of the fall season, the Bulls (2-0) will look toward the spring, including the Mid-American Conference schedule. UB opens the spring campaign on Friday, February 11 at home against Duquesne.