For women’s tennis fans, this past weekend meant one thing: the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Invitational, which took place in Flushing, N.Y. The event showcased some of Binghamton University’s fine young talent, highlighted by the play of sophomore Lauren Bates.

It was a busy weekend, with Bates losing a three-set thriller to Lauren Cash of Boston College, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, before taking out Elizabeth Googe of Cornell, 6-3, 6-4. She then defeated Emilia Monell of Columbia in Flight 3 singles, 6-3, 6-4, to finish with a 2-1 singles record and much to be proud of.

“I thought I played very well,” Bates said. “We played against some of the top teams from Ivy League schools and I thought I was very aggressive. My serve and forehand worked well for me.”

Meanwhile, sophomore Yulia Smirnova participated in Flight 4 singles and notched a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Emily Harman of Syracuse. Afterward, she fell to Ryan Kurtello of Wake Forest, 6-4, 6-4, as well as Lauren Santacroce of Texas A&M, 6-1, 6-3, and felt there was room for improvement.

“I wasn’t patient enough and I need to improve my footwork,” Smirnova said. “I feel my footwork could have been better.”

Bates and Smirnova also teamed up for doubles play and nicely defeated Samantha Gridley and Samantha Rosekrans of Harvard, 8-5, to advance to the second round. They followed up that performance with an 8-4 defeat of Simone Kalhorn and Ashley Spicer of Syracuse in the quarterfinals, but experienced a heart-breaking loss in the semis to Katarina Gajic and Dasha Cherkasov of Boston College, 9-7.

“We played very aggressive and energetic,” Smirnova said. “I think we did a good job and I am very happy with our performance.”

Elsewhere with the Bearcats, freshman Jillian Santos started off her battle with a hard-earned win over Simone Kalhorn of Syracuse, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in Flight 2 singles. Later she would go down to Puggensee Wie of Purdue, 6-1, 6-0, and Stephanie Davidson of Texas A&M, 6-1, 6-2. Santos, being the big competitor she is, was not all that enthused with her performance.

“I feel that I could have done better,” Santos said. “I had high expectations coming in, especially after the Cornell Invitational. It was good to see the other Ivy League schools and how they played, but I still believe I could have played better.”

Santos will get her chance for redemption a week from Thursday when the Bearcats travel to Philadelphia for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association East Regional.