If the America East championships were a jukebox, there would be a repeat button stuck at the Binghamton University men’s tennis team.
For the fifth time in seven straight seasons, the Bearcats established their reign as America East champions with a 4-1 win over top-seeded Stony Brook on Sunday. It is the fourth time the Bearcats have won at the expense of the Seawolves in the final match.
Binghamton entered the weekend tournament at Yale’s Tennis Center as the second seed, and getting to the finals was no easy task as the Bearcats battled third-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County. The Retrievers could not keep up with the Bearcat assault, led by sophomores Arnav Jain and Sven Vloedgraven, and freshman Rafael Rodrigues.
The trio won their singles matches in straight sets, with Vloedgraven’s match being the clincher. Along with the doubles point picked up with wins posted by Alexandre Haggai/Rodrigues in third singles and Moshe Levy/Jain in second singles, the Bearcats posted a 4-0 win over UMBC on Saturday morning to advance.
One day later, Binghamton faced the top-seeded Seawolves, a team that it had lost to in a previous matchup, 4-3. However, the Bearcats were able to reverse the outcome of the previous match with the 4-1 victory.
Binghamton won both its first and second doubles to capture the doubles point, with victories posted by Gilbert Wong/Vloedgraven (8-3) and Levy/Jain (8-3).
“We won the doubles point in both matchups that we’ve lost to before,” said Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen. “Momentum after the doubles point is important, especially in the tournament.”
Binghamton went on to capture three out of the first four completed singles matches, led by Vloedgraven in first singles, Wong in third singles and Jain in fourth singles.
Vloedgraven defeated Stony Brook’s Halvar Dil in first singles in straight sets (6-2, 6-3). This marks the second time he posted a straight-set victory over Dil, who has an impressive 18-9 record. With the win, Vloedgraven’s record improves to 26-9 overall and 17-4 in doubles.
Wong, a freshman, continued his outstanding play en route to being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Wong’s straight-set (6-3, 7-6) victory at third singles was the clinching point for the Bearcats. He has compiled an overall record of 32-7, 18-3 in doubles.
“Gilbert has had a fantastic freshman season,” Cohen said. “Winning 30 games is an accomplishment in itself. He’s a hard worker and he’s going to keep giving it his all.”
The third and final point from singles came from Jain’s commanding performance at fourth singles (6-1, 6-1). Jain improved his overall record to 22-12.
The Bearcats will now have to wait for the NCAA Championship selection at 5:20 p.m. today to find out which school they will be scheduled to play in the tournament. The entire 64-team draw will be broadcast on “ESPNews,” and the Bearcats will be watching in the Events Center TAU Bearcat Room.
Cohen knows that the team’s toughest games are still yet to come.
“Whoever we face will most likely be a top-16 team in the country, so it’s a tall task,” he said. “But these guys are competitors, so expect them to give it their all.”