Last Tuesday, a certain Pipe Dream writer (I choose to remain anonymous) described Binghamton University women’s tennis team as being “in a rut.”

Boy, was I wrong.

The women’s tennis team had a great weekend, righting the ship to improve its record to 3-4 with wins over the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Marist. The two wins snapped what was a four-match dual losing streak that dated back to Feb. 1.

On Saturday, Binghamton kicked off their successful weekend by throttling NJIT 5-2. The catalysts of their win were — who else — Anna Edelman and Lauren Bates. Edelman and Bates kicked off the action with a 8-3 win at the top doubles spot to improve to 16-2 as a team going into their dual with Marist. They then followed up their victory with solid wins in singles.

Edelman fought for a 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 victory over Iulia Doci, while Bates dominated against Isha Toor 6-0, 6-1. Erica Rosenblum and Gayathri Balasundar won 8-4 at second doubles over Fanny Aizier and Chiori Koike, and Yulia Smirnova and Danyelle Shapiro completed the sweep at doubles with a win over Toor and Dasa Stanimirovic at third doubles 8-4. In singles, Smirnova and Shapiro dominantly secured the winning points of the match, dropping just four games between them in wins over Fatima Kasem and Stanimirovic.

Against Marist on Sunday, the Bearcats were even more dominant in racing to a 6-1 victory. The win was truly a total team effort. Edelman, Bates, Smirnova, Shapiro and Balasundar were ruthless in their five singles victories, dropping only a combined 15 games and winning four sets 6-0. Edelman and Bates ripped through Christine Ong and Cassie Strange 8-0, making Sunday a fantastic day for Edelman. After a tough three set win against NJIT, Edelman did not relinquish a single game to Marist, a statement that the America East surely heard. In doubles, the Bearcats lost just one game in three matches.

After suffering through a four-game losing streak, it was important for the Bearcats to reestablish themselves this past weekend, and they successfully did that. Now, they are on a two match winning streak. Their players were very enthusiastic about getting back on a winning track.

“We’re really happy we won both matches this weekend. We played well and we deserved it,” Edelman said.

The Bearcats with their two wins perhaps have a reward to look forward to: a weekend off. Dating back to Jan. 26, before classes started, the team has had to compete every weekend, and now finally has this coming weekend off. Binghamton women’s tennis seems to view their chance to rest as a chance to work out some kinks for their upcoming March schedule.

“This week we’re going to work hard, but we also need to rest,” Edelman said. “We need to get ourselves fresh for our next match.”

The Bearcats’ next dual match will be contested on March 8 at Niagara.