Kasey Robb/Staff Photographer
Close

A team record for consecutive wins has the Bearcats at their highest national ranking in the team’s history.

The Binghamton University men’s tennis team has prevailed in a record 13 straight matches to improve to 18-1 on the season, while also moving up to 52nd in the ITA national rankings. The Bearcats’ ranking is the highest in the program’s history.

“The guys staying healthy has been really important during this streak,” said Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen. “Also, our doubles play has been much more solid than it was a year ago. We’ve lost the doubles point maybe four times and we’ve won it 15 times so that’s obviously been a big help on why we’re 18-1.”

Continuing its dominance over the Ivy League this season, BU racked up three straight victories against UPenn, Yale and No. 69 Harvard. The Bearcats’ 4-3 win over Harvard was particularly impressive, as Harvard entered the match as the top-ranked team in the Northeast.

With the match tied at 3-3, junior Arnav Jain was able to clinch the deciding point by defeating Harvard’s Alistair Felton 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 4 singles spot. Jain is a perfect 18-0 in dual matches and is a team-best 29-3 overall this season.

“Arnav has had a great spring semester for us,” Cohen said. “To go undefeated is something very special. We just hope that he can continue that kind of play for another six weeks or so until the end of the season. He’s been doing a great job for us.”

The schedule didn’t get any easier for BU, as they next faced the Western Michigan Broncos (16-8). The Broncos have won the Mid-American Conference title four years in a row and entered the match ranked No. 74 in the nation.

Proving its record was no fluke, Binghamton quickly disposed of the Broncos 4-0 by capturing the doubles point and then winning the first three completed singles matches. Because the team victory was already secured and the Bearcats were facing Buffalo immediately afterward, the remaining singles contests were stopped prematurely.

“It was a little bit surprising how easily we were able to win that match,” Cohen said. “The doubles point was close, but then singles we won relatively easily at the one, two and four spots and we were also winning all the other matches that got suspended.”

Against the Buffalo Bulls (9-5), BU took the doubles point and won the first four singles matches on its way to a 5-2 victory.

Current America East Player of the Week Sven Vloedgraven went a perfect 4-0 on the day, winning both his matches at the No.1 singles and doubles spots. Dropping a mere seven games in four singles sets, he improved to 16-3 in dual matches and 31-8 overall on the year.

After spending most of the season on the road, the Bearcats will now finish out the last six matches of the regular season at home.

“These are the courts we practice on every day so I think it will be an advantage for us,” Cohen said. “It’s always nice to play in front of some of the guys’ friends who might show up and cheer for us.”

Binghamton is scheduled to play its first conference match of the season on Saturday when it hosts UMBC at 10 a.m. on the West Gym courts. The match will be followed immediately with a clash against Fairleigh Dickinson University.