On Tuesday, the Binghamton University women’s tennis team (3-4) will look to level its record when it welcomes the St. Bonaventure Bonnies to the West Gym courts for the first home match of the semester.
It will be the team’s first home match since a 6-1 pasting of Siena on alumni weekend. The Bearcats, who lost four matches in a row after beating Siena, are now back on a two-match win streak and are beginning to play well as a team. All signs point to a victorious day for Binghamton, who is looking forward to finally playing a match on their own turf after spending the entire spring thus far on the road.
“We’re excited to have a home match,” said Gayathri Balasundar, the team’s senior captain. “Hopefully, the weather is good and we can get some people to come out and see us.”
The Bearcats have a lot of factors playing into their favor going into their upcoming showdown with the Bonnies. For starters, the play of their top two players, Anna Edelman and Lauren Bates, has been very encouraging. The tandem is 6-1 as a doubles team in duals, and each has gone 5-2 in dual matches in singles. The pair has not lost together or individually since Feb. 9 against Temple. Yulia Smirnova is on a two-match win streak of her own at third singles as well, as is her team; the Bearcats have won their last two dual matches. Add a 7-0 victory over St. Bonaventure that the Bearcats scored last year, and optimism is abound for a repeat performance. Balasundar was confident that her team will be able to have a successful dual against St Bonaventure because of how hard they have worked to prepare for the match.
“The team has been working really hard,” she said. “We’ve really been pushing each other. Hopefully, the adjustments and improvements we have made as a team will show.”
The match against St. Bonaventure does not come without concern, and it is by no means a sure win for Binghamton. One concern for the Bearcats has to be their lack of match play in recent weeks. The Bearcats have not played a dual match since Feb. 24, when they beat Marist 6-1. However, Balasundar made it a point that her team is not worried about rust adversely affecting their play on Tuesday.
“I’m not worried about rust,” she said. “Even though we haven’t played another school in a while, we have been playing competitively against each other every day.”
“We are ready for St. Bonaventure,” Balasundar said.
The match, the final one before spring break, is set to begin at 3:30 p.m. at the West Gym courts.