The Binghamton women’s tennis team ended its fall season on a high note, having its best singles performance of the season, as four Bearcats picked up singles wins at the Akron Shootout over the weekend.

BU head coach Libby McGovern said this was their overall best performance of the season.

“They showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight all weekend,” McGovern said. “And that’s the most important thing.”

McGovern partially attributes the success of the team to having the courts set up in a side-by-side manner, suggesting it helped teammates feed off of each other’s energy.

“I think that seeing each other really helped them feel more comfortable and to compete even harder,” McGovern said. “They knew that they were out there competing for each other.”

Two out of the four singles winners were freshmen Jamie Lau and Julia Gumieniak.

Gumieniak was able to secure the first win for the Bearcats when she defeated Akron freshman Aliona Kruglov 7-6, 7-5 on Friday, while Lau bested Akron sophomore Enya Forgaci 7-5, 6-4 on the final day of the competition. Her singles record for the season is now 3-3.

On the second day, sophomore Regina Furer earned a three-set win against Youngstown State junior Lucia Zagar 6-1, 2-6, 1-0.

“I started to see the fight in Jamie and Julia and Regina,” McGovern said. “Pretty much everybody up and down the line started to feed off of their energy and the way that they were playing, which started a chain reaction among everyone on the team.”

Joining the other three singles flight winners was junior Michelle Eisenberg, who captured a win against Cleveland State sophomore Lara Prosenjak 6-1, 6-4. Michelle Eisenberg’s twin, senior Samara Eisenberg, competed with her in doubles, and the pair came close to a win against Akron junior Miruna Vasilescu and senior Rita Pedroso, but ultimately dropped the match 7-6. Samara Eisenberg came close to singles flight wins on both Saturday and Sunday but was edged out in the three-set matches. McGovern said she is impressed with the way the twins played over the weekend and how they have been playing all season.

“The Eisenbergs go out and they just work hard from start to finish,” McGovern said. “They make opponents work really hard for every single point. I think they set the tone for our entire team, so when they’re playing that way it helps everybody else realize that’s where they need to be.”

With the fall season now over, BU is preparing for the spring season, where it will begin to have dual matches instead of just invites. McGovern is preparing by giving each player individual attention and workouts.

“We’re just going to be tweaking little things here and there, and it’s different for every single person,” McGovern said. “We’re also going to be working on our thought process and making sure that we’re able to assess what’s happening in our matches appropriately to make adjustments and problem-solve.”

After the break, the team will partake in a series of dual matches throughout the spring semester. This will kick off with a match against Boston University at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19 in Boston, Massachusetts.