The No. 63-ranked Binghamton University men’s tennis team had another successful weekend, improving to 11-1 on the season with solid wins over Radford, Duquesne and Youngstown State.
Teressa Pace/Photo Editor
Binghamton began Saturday’s action against Radford by winning two of the three doubles matches, which proved to be the deciding point as they squeaked by the Highlanders 4-3.
“Saturday was a great college match,” said Binghamton head coach Adam Cohen. “Anytime you get two good college teams playing, and it comes down to the last match — that is what college tennis is all about.”
Radford entered the year ranked No. 56 in the country, but this most recent loss was the fourth time in a row that they have suffered a 4-3 loss. Last year, the Highlanders routed the Bearcats 6-0 en route to winning the Big South.
Saturday was a rough day for BU’s top player, junior Sven Vloedgraven. After losing at doubles, Vloedgraven matched up with the 79th-ranked player, Ivan Salec, at first singles. Vloedgraven put up a good fight, but lost in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
The match was all tied up at 3-3 before sophomore Gilbert Wong secured the win for the Bearcats by defeating Zack Watson to clinch the match.
“Gilbert played well for us,” Cohen said. “He was playing through some cramps, and with everyone watching and both teams cheering back and forth he played great and clinched the win for us. He gutted it out, and we are glad we got the win.”
Junior Arnav Jain continued his excellence, winning his ninth consecutive match 6-2, 6-1. Jain is now perfect in dual matches, and 21-3 on the season.
“Arnav has been great,” Cohen said. “He hasn’t lost a match, and since the day he arrived in January of 2008, the guy has always won whenever we needed him to. The guys have a lot of confidence in him, and so do I. No matter where I play him in the lineup, we are all confident that if we get down 1-0, Arnav will tie it up for us.”
On Sunday, the Bearcats had another winning day, clinching all 18 matches. Sophomore Rafael Rodrigues and junior Andreas Danielsson saw their most extensive playing time of the year, combining to go 5-0 in singles and doubles play.
“We played good doubles, especially Bastian (Bornkessel) and Ruben (Devos),” Cohen said. “I moved them to second doubles and they defeated a good team 8-0. Bastian played his best match I have seen so far. He is playing at a good level, and he certainly played well in his singles match. It is good for those guys to get time in the lineup, so if we ask them to play later in the season they are prepared.”
The Bearcats are set to take on James Madison in Virginia on Saturday.