After being picked to finish first in the Mid-American Conference pre-season coaches' poll, the women's tennis team set out to prove the voters right by defeating the Northern Illinois Huskies last Friday by a score of 7-0 in their first MAC match of the year.
Head coach Kathy Twist was happy with the team's performance, saying that with the win, the team's confidence is "pretty high."
"We're not taking anything for granted...I'm taking it one weekend at a time...the teams in the MAC this year - I think there's a lot of equality in them," Twist said.
Buffalo (6-4, 1-0 MAC) won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead into the singles matches. The senior combo of Andreea Novaceanu and Tina Jacob had no trouble with their foes, defeating Dora Delgadillo and Jenny Edner of Northern Illinois in third doubles.
The pairing of sophomore Denise Harijanto and freshman Diana Popescu took the number one doubles match in a tiebreaker, winning 9-8(4).
Having already won the doubles point, Buffalo added salt to the wound by winning the third doubles point with the pairing of junior Smaranda Stan and sophomore Diana Toia, finishing off the Huskies' pair of Kathryn Friedlund and Lilian Asuaje, 9-8(3).
Buffalo did not lose one set in its sweep of the six singles matches against the Huskies (3-7, 1-2 MAC). Novaceanu defeated Nao Umemura, 6-3, 6-1, in the number one singles match, while Harijanto defeated Asuaje in the second singles 6-2, 6-1.
Popescu came close to ruining Buffalo's set winning streak by going to a tie-breaker in the second set against Friedlund. Nevertheless, Popescu prevailed 6-0, 7-6 (4). Leading the team in wins, this was Popescu's 19th of the season.
Stan took the fourth singles point easily, defeating Forsberg, 6-3, 6-4 for her 18th victory of the year. Toia and Jacob finished off the match for the Bulls, defeating Edner and Delgadillo respectively.
On April 5, the Bulls will take on their rival Western Michigan. Since joining the MAC in 2000, the Bulls have not defeated the Broncos, going 0-9 during this span. These two teams have clashed in the MAC championship the past two seasons, with Western Michigan coming out on top both times.
This year, Buffalo has a senior-laden lineup, and is expected to topple the Broncos for Buffalo's first MAC tournament title in any sport.
"I'm always disappointed when we lose...I think if we get the best performance from everybody, we're going to win the MAC," Twist said.
The Bulls come home for the first time in a month for two games. They will take to the court next on Friday, March 28, when they face the Ball State Cardinals at 1 p.m. On Saturday, March 29, Buffalo goes up against Miami (OH), with the matches set to begin at 1 p.m.
