This weekend, the Binghamton University men’s tennis team knocked off Duquesne University and Lehigh University, each by a score of 5-2. The women’s squad fell to Cornell University 6-1.

In the squad’s first match against Duquesne (10-3) on Friday afternoon, the Bearcats (5-5) took four of six singles matches and picked up the doubles point after winning two of three doubles matches. Junior Ruben Devos (7-5, 6-0), freshman Ismael Dinia (7-6) and freshman Ruben Haggai (6-2) each took care of their singles opponents in straight sets, while freshman Robin Lesage (7-6, 4-6, 6-2) finished his opponent off in three sets.

In doubles, Devos and junior Bastian Bornkessel got the win at No. 1 doubles (4-3, ret.) and senior Alexandre Haggai and Dinia secured the doubles point for Binghamton with their 9-8 win at No. 3.

On Sunday afternoon, it was more of the same. In doubles, Lehigh jumped on Binghamton with an 8-2 win in No. 2 doubles, but Dinia and Haggai would get the win (8-4) at No. 3 to even things up. The stage was set for Bornkessel and Devos at No. 1 doubles and they didn’t disappoint, getting the win (9-7) to clinch the doubles point and give the Bearcats an early 1-0 lead. In singles, Alexandre Haggai (6-3, 6-2), Lesage (6-3, 6-3), Dinia (6-4, 7-5) and Ruben Haggai (6-0, 6-2) all won their matches in straight sets.

“Any time that the guys at the bottom can win, it just gives them confidence about how they’re playing and will also [help] the guys on the top of the lineup,” head coach Adam Cohen said. “When two close teams play, the matches are often decided at the bottom of the lineup. If you can win the doubles point and then get a couple of points at the bottom at five and six or four and six, that means you only have to get one more point somewhere. So it definitely helps to be solid at the bottom and these guys are doing a good job down there so far.”

Meanwhile, the women’s team dropped its match to Cornell University on Sunday, 6-1.

In doubles, the Bearcats played their opponents hard but dropped all three matches. Senior Jillian Santos and freshman Missy Edelblum fell 9-8 (7-5), senior Emma Leibowicz and sophomore Jennifer Fridman lost 8-6 while freshman Taylor Hollander and freshman Katherine Medianik fell 8-4.

“To be honest, everybody fought hard and competed hard,” head coach Libby McGovern said. “Our No. 1 and No. 2 doubles played at a very high level. If you ask the Cornell coach, he’ll tell you that we played better doubles overall than they did. It really was just a couple points here and there that made the difference and they came away with those really important points.”

A bright spot for Binghamton this season has been Santos, who won her No. 1 singles match, 6-1, 1-6, 6-0. She’s now 11-10 on the season and has an 81-41 all-time record on the singles court as a Bearcat.

“Obviously we’re all very proud of Santos; she’s having a great spring,” McGovern said. “She continues to compete and play at a very high level. And she was able to work through some things in the second set that didn’t go her way and then bring it back around in the third set.”

This weekend, the men’s team has scheduled home matchups at the Binghamton Tennis Center against Illinois State University at 7 p.m. Friday and Dartmouth College at 5 p.m. Saturday. The women’s team, meanwhile, is scheduled to hit the road for scheduled matchups against Niagara University at 5 p.m. Friday and the University at Buffalo at 1 p.m. Saturday.