Women’s Tennis Falls Hard to Buffalo and Binghamton

In what turned out to be a grueling, yet encouraging, weekend for the women’s tennis team, the Red suffered consecutive losses against Binghamton University and the University of Buffalo. After losing its game on Friday to the Bearcats by a score of 6-1, the Red couldn’t capitalize on a strong effort the following day, falling short, 3-4, to a talented Buffalo team.
The Bearcats secured the victory against the Red by picking up five singles wins. At No. 1 singles, freshman Stephanie Kent retired from her match to Jillian Santos, while senior captain Shayna Miller was edged out by Marina Bykovskaya, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 8-10. Sophomore Catherine Duboc picked up the lone win at the No. 5 singles slot for Cornell. Miller and senior Elizabeth Googe captured the Red’s lone doubles victory, earning an 8-3 victory at the No. 2 position.
“We usually do well against this Binghamton team,” said junior Natalia Sanchez, who lost her match at No. 2 singles. “Today we just didn’t match their intensity and that was obvious by the [outcome].”
[img_assist|nid=35488|title=Forehand winner|desc=Sophomore Ruxandra Dumitrescu competes against Fairely Dickinson on Feb. 7 at Reis Tennis Center.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
Duboc echoed her teammate’s sentiments, “We were missing a couple of players, and I’m sure that affected the way we played, but [there was] certainly a lack of intensity against a team we definitely should have beaten.”
There was, however, no question about the passion and energy that the Red displayed in its subsequent match against Buffalo. On Saturday, Cornell rallied against the Bulls, posting wins in both the singles and doubles flights. In singles, Googe picked up a 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 win over Stan at the No. 3 spot, while Miller put forth an impressive effort, defeating her opponent 7-6 (4), 6-4 at the No. 4 position. Sophomore Leah Seyburn also picked up a win for Cornell with a straight set, 6-4, 6-3, victory over Subenkova at the No. 6 position
“We came out strong, but we had to concede a win by default due to injury, and that kind of summed up our weekend,” said Duboc, who fell short in her singles match at the No. 5 position, 3-6, 1-6. “Obviously, they are a stronger team than Binghamton, but we showed how far we can go when we show up to play.”
Sanchez summarized the Red’s performance, “Both teams we played were strong, and although we believe the outcome could have been different, these games provide us an opportunity to prepare for what is most important — the Ivy Competition.”