The hard work that the Binghamton University women’s tennis team put in during non-conference play was evident Saturday morning at the Events Center as the Bearcats rolled to a 7-0 victory over the Hartford Hawks, its first America East opponent of the season. The team even served up some bagels — 6-0 set victories — over the hapless Hawks.

“We try to play every conference match like it’s the conference final,” said BU senior captain Gayathri Balasundar. “We feel this makes us well prepared for every match.”

Binghamton was ruthless in its first conference match of the season, dropping just three games in nine matches. The team’s goal in its first conference match was to show the AE that it’s a strong contender for the conference title, and it did just that.

Freshman Anna Edelman improved her record for the year to a team-best of 11-3 with a solid victory over Kasey Michels 6-0, 6-0 at the top singles position. At second singles, freshman Lauren Bates improved to 10-4 with an easy 6-0, 6-0 win over Nicole Haynal. Together, Edelman and Bates won over Michels and Haynal 8-0 at the top doubles position to improve to 12-2 as a team.

The rest of the Bearcats were ruthless in disposing of Hartford as well. Freshman Yulia Smirnova posted 6-0, 6-0 victory at the third singles position over Hali Dorfman, and sophomore Danyelle Shapiro kept the trend of winning 6-0, 6-0 going in her match at fourth singles against Jessica Ruggles. Smirnova and Shapiro teamed up at third doubles to defeat Dorfman and Gulay Ozdemir 8-0. At fifth singles, BU’s Erica Rosenblum won her match over Michelle Tafur 6-1, 6-0. Balasundar won her match at the sixth position over Ozdemir by the same score. As a doubles team, Rosenblum and Balasundar helped Binghamton secure the dual’s doubles point by defeating Ruggles and Tafur 8-0.

The Bearcats’ runaway victory over Hartford left their senior captain and veteran leader Balasundar enthusiastic about the team’s performance.

“We had a very strong start for our first conference match,” Balasundar said. “We played confidently and fearlessly.”

Binghamton won its second match of the weekend on Sunday, downing Quinnipiac 7-0. Considering the fact that the Bearcats struggled to a 4-3 victory over Quinnipiac last year, it was an encouraging result. The Bearcats did not drop any matches to the Bobcats. Edelman and Bates rolled to straight sets victories at first and second singles, and then cruised through their doubles match 8-3 in their typical dominant fashion. Smirnova and Shapiro also won easy matches at third and fourth singles, dropping just two games combined. Smirnova and Shapiro won 8-1 at second doubles as well. Rosenblum and Balasundar won their doubles match 8-3 as well, and Rosenblum persevered through the dual match’s only tough encounter, as she ground her way to a 6-1, 3-6, 11-9 victory.

Binghamton raised its dual record to a season-high four matches over .500, at 9-5.

The Bearcats have a week to prepare for another important weekend, when they host Maryland-Baltimore County at 3 p.m. Friday and Stony Brook at 11 a.m. Saturday. Binghamton will be looking to avenge its loss to UMBC in last year’s America East semifinals.