A year of struggles continued for the Bearcats as the Binghamton University men’s tennis team fell once again to an unranked opponent over the weekend.
On Saturday, the team faced unranked UNC-Wilmington in a road match that it likely envisioned going differently.
After losing two close matches last week to Columbia University and St. John’s University, the Bearcats were blown out by the Seahawks, 4-0. The Bearcats lost all three doubles matches and the first three singles matches to be completed, rendering the remaining singles matches irrelevant.
Senior Sven Vloedgraven and junior Gilbert Wong continued their inconsistent spring seasons, falling 9-7 in their doubles match to Chris Cooprider and Kinshuk Sharma. UNC-Wilmington secured the doubles point after Illia Ziamtsou and Kosta Blank defeated junior Alexandre Haggai and senior Arnav Jain in another close match, 8-6.
In the singles matches, Vloedgraven’s, Haggai’s and Wong’s matches were not completed because the match had already been decided. Vloedgraven and Haggai’s matches were tied when play was suspended, while Wong was leading in the third set.
Sharma rallied from a set away from elimination to defeat Jain, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 while sophomore Bastian Bornkessel and Haggai didn’t have better luck against their opponents. Rafael Aita handily beat Bornkessel in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3 and Haggai lost to Ziamtsou, 6-2, 6-2.
The team was also scheduled to face Troy University in Wilmington on Sunday, but that match was cancelled. The cancelled match may have come at a good time for the Bearcats, as they are currently on a four-match losing streak, so an extra day off may just be what they need to refocus.
The loss dropped the three-time reigning American East champion Bearcats to 2-8 for this spring season, a far cry from their 25-2 record last year. Their inability to win close matches has hurt them thus far, as they have lost four matches in the spring by just one point.
Vloedgraven came into this season with high expectations after repeating as the ITA Northeast Regional champion in the fall season. After suffering two singles losses to start off the season, he has picked up his game, winning the past seven completed matches.
However, he has been erratic in his doubles matches, going just 5-5 so far this season after being ranked as the No. 5 doubles team, along with Wong, in the Northeast ranking last year.
The team’s inconsistent play has hurt the Bearcats’ chances at winning their close matches and their national and regional rankings are likely to fall once again after another loss.
The Bearcats are set to travel to face two Ivy League foes next weekend, Harvard University and Yale University, and will attempt once again to regain their championship winning form. The match against Harvard is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday, while the match against Yale is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday.