UMBC and Boston U. Juniors Take Weekly Honors - AmericaEast.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A pair of juniors helped lead their respective teams to shutout victories last week to earn America East Player of the Week honors. On the men’s side, UMBC’s Rasid Winklaar (Willemstad, Curacao/Abraham Baldwin College) took the Player of the Week nod while the America East office again recognized Boston University’s Stefanie Nunic (New York, N.Y./Broward Virtual Education) as women’s Player of the Week accolades.
Winklaar was one of two Retrievers to win both of his matches in contests at Penn and St. Joseph’s last Saturday. The junior opened the day with an impressive, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Penn’s Ivan Turudic at No. 3 singles. He continued his brilliant play that evening, defeating Tommy Gates of St. Joseph’s, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 3 singles to help the Retrievers to a 6-0 victory.
Nunic dropped just seven games combined in two singles victories at the top spot for the Terriers. The junior beat No. 75 William & Mary’s top player, 6-1, 6-1. Nunic capped her singles play for the week with a 6-2, 6-3 victory vs. Akron. The Terriers topped Akron, 7-0. In doubles play, Nunic lost to the 64th-ranked duo from William & Mary, 8-4, but came back with an 8-5 win over the nation’s 18th-ranked team from Akron. This is Nunic’s second Player of the Week honor for the 2011 season.
University at Albany (0-6) lost three non-conference matches last week. The Great Danes fell, 4-3, to both Colgate and Siena, while dropping a 6-1 decision to Marist. Junior Aubrey Brooks (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) posted a singles win against Colgate and also teamed up with senior Susan Ma (Parkville, Mo./Park Hills South) for a doubles win. Sophomore Sarah Iannone (North Vancouver, British Columbia/Seycove Secondary School) was also victorious in singles action against the Raiders. Senior Melissa Coughlin (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) won a 6-1, 7-5 decision at No. 5 singles for the Great Danes’ third point versus Colgate. Coughlin was the lone winner against Marist, recording a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the fifth position. The Great Danes earned the doubles point against Siena, sweeping all three matches. Brooks, at fourth singles, and senior Laine Mackey (Leawood, Kan./Shawnee Mission), in the No. 2 slot, won their respective singles matches against the Saints. Albany will return to action on Saturday at Massachusetts.
The Binghamton University men (2-7) continued their struggles early this season with a pair of 4-3 defeats last week. The Bearcats, ranked 68th in the nation by the ITA, lost to Columbia and St. John’s on the road. Binghamton has dropped three straight matches and four total this season by the narrow, 4-3 margin. The team’s top two players, seniors Sven Vloedgraven (Lochem, Netherlands/Isendoorn College) and Arnav Jain (Mumbai, India/J.M.L. School) are a combined 15-3 in duals, but the rest of the lineup is 5-31. Binghamton takes a break from its Northeast opponents this week and heads to Wilmington, N. C., for a pair of matches before returning to face three straight Ivy League foes next week. The Binghamton women dropped their only dual match over the weekend, falling 6-1 to host Dartmouth College on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats fall to 2-4 on the season following Saturday’s setback to the Big Green, who opened the spring portion of the season with a No. 60 ranking. The host squad captured the doubles point with triumphs at first and third doubles, while Bearcat juniors Marina Bykovskaya (Saratov, Russa/Secondary School 8) and Emma Leibowicz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) teamed for an 8-6 win at second doubles. Senior Anna Edelman (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck North) continued her stellar play at first singles with a straight-set victory over No. 122 Molly Scott. Binghamton continues its Ivy League stretch with a 4 p.m. contest Wednesday at Penn.
The 67th-ranked Boston University women’s tennis team (6-3) split its two matches this past weekend, dropping a 6-1 decision to No. 75 William & Mary at Harvard on Friday before earning a 7-0 sweep over Akron Sunday at the Track and Tennis Center. Junior Stefanie Nunic (New York, N.Y./Broward Virtual Education) had two strong performances in the top singles spot, dropping a total of seven games in her two wins. In doubles play against Akron, Nunic and sophomore Vivien Laszloffy (Budapest, Hungary/Thomas Mann Gymnasium) defeated the No. 18 doubles team in the nation. The Terriers will return to action on Saturday, March 5, at No. 53 Brown. The men (4-3) were idle and will next play at Dartmouth on Saturday.
University of Hartford opened its spring tennis season over the weekend as the men (0-1) fell to Fairfield and the women (0-1) dropped their match with Rhode Island. The Hawks’ only match victory of the weekend came from junior Aneil Bhalla (Ottawa, Ontario/Merivale) and sophomore Josh Isaacson (Marietta, Ga./George Walton) at No. 1 doubles for the men, as they knocked off Joe Michalisin and Erik Kremheller of Fairfield, a team which came into the match 12-1 on the season. Bhalla also put up a strong fight at No. 1 singles, falling to Dan Sauter 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, (10-2). Next up for the men is a home match against Bryant on March 4. On the women’s side, sophomore Kaitlin Lennon (North Scituate, R.I./Ponaganset) and junior Haley Gileau (East Granby, Conn./East Granby) dropped their match at No. 2 doubles, 8-6, the best doubles showing for the Hawks. Sophomore Amanda Epstein (Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley) had the singles match of the day, falling 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to Michelle Dussol. The women take the court again at home March 5 against Manhattan.
UMBC men’s tennis (6-3) split a pair of matches on Saturday, February 26, as the Retrievers dropped a morning match to Ivy League power Penn, 5-2, in Philadelphia, but blanked St. Joseph’s, 6-0, in the evening in Ambler, Pa. The Penn squad had posted shutouts in its last three matches and improved to 8-0 overall with the hard-fought win over the Retrievers. UMBC junior Rasid Winklaar (Willemstad, Curacao/Abraham Baldwin College) evened the match at 1-1 as he posted an impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory over Penn’s Ivan Turudic at No. 3 singles. Retriever sophomore Gaulthier Berret (Lagny Sur Marne, France/Institute Deschamp (Belgium)) rallied from a set down to take the No. 5 singles match, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6, and give the guests their second point. The two other three-set matches went to Penn. Junior Joe Adewumi (Phoenix, Ariz./North Canyon) won his first set against Phil Law and had two second-set match points at No. 2 singles, but was edged, 4-6, 7-6, 10-8. Sophomore Adam Duprat (Bobigny, France/Institute Deschamp (Belgium)) also had a near-miss, falling in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. The Retrievers and Hawks played six singles matches with UMBC taking four of the six in straight sets. Winklaar continued his brilliant play, defeating Tommy Gates, 6-3, 6-4, at No. 3 singles. Adewumi competed at No. 1 singles and captured a three-setter, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, over St. Joseph’s Alex Veronis. The Retrievers are now 6-3 on the campaign and are scheduled to host Navy on campus on Sunday, March 6 at 5 p.m. On the women’s side, the Retrievers improved to 6-4 on the season as they blanked host St. Joseph’s, 6-0, on Saturday. The two teams only competed in singles play and the Retrievers did not drop a set. Two Retrievers – sophomore No. 4 Heidi Danielsson (Jonkoping, Sweden/Sanda) and senior No. 5 Emily Mannix (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) – only lost one game apiece in their victories. In addition, freshman No. 1 Kim Berghaus (Offenbach, Germany/Leibnizgymnasium) defeated Casey Robinson, 6-0, 6-2, and classmate No. 6 Josefin Stange-Jonsson (Vasteras, Sweden/De La Gardiegymnasiet) also only dropped two games, ousting Jenna Porcyk, 6-2, 6-0. The Retrievers are scheduled to compete on their home courts for the first time this season on Saturday, March 5 when they host Temple.
The Stony Brook University men’s team (3-5) dropped three matches over the weekend at the Yale Four-Way. Stony Brook lost, 4-3, to Yale and Fairleigh Dickinson and fell, 6-1, to Marist. The women (5-2) lost to No. 53 Brown, 6-1, on Sunday. Freshman Nikita Fomin (Moscow, Russia/Bradenton) went 3-0 at No. 1 singles on the weekend. Fomin also teamed with sophomore Roope Kailaheimo (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) to win, 8-2, at No. 1 doubles against Marist. Fomin won in straight sets against both Marist and Fairleigh Dickinson. The Seawolves split the six singles matches with both FDU and Yale but lost the doubles point each time. The men head to Columbia on March 4. For the women, the loss to Brown snapped a four-match winning streak. Senior Gayatri Krishnan (Chennai, India/National Inst. of Open Schooling) won in straight sets at No. 5 singles for the Seawolves’ only point of the match. The Stony Brook women next play at Yale, Sunday, March 6.