Kopelman and Lagvilava Earn Weekly Honors - AmericaEast.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A pair of America East tennis student-athletes contributed standout performances to lead their teams to multiple wins last week and earn Player of the Week honors. Boston University junior Michael Kopelman (Treasure Island, Fla./St. Pete Catholic) played his way to the men’s award while Stony Brook University sophomore Nini Lagvilava (Tbilisi, Georgia/Number 29) earned the women’s honor.
Kopelman paced the Terriers to a 7-0 win over Holy Cross and a 5-2 triumph over Army last week. The junior blanked his Holy Cross opponent, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 2 spot after winning the top doubles match, 8-3. Against Army, Kopelman dropped the first set but rallied back for a three-set victory, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, from the No. 3 singles slot.
Lagvilava led the Seawolves to wins over Fairleigh Dickinson (6-1), Long Island (7-0) and Quinnipiac (7-0) last week. The sophomore did not drop a set as she went 3-0 at No. 1 singles, winning, 6-0, 6-3, against Fairleigh Dickinson, 6-0, 6-3, against Long Island and, 6-0, 6-1, against Quinnipiac.
University at Albany (3-12) fell to non-conference opponents Bryant and Providence over the weekend. The Great Danes dropped a 7-0 decision to Bryant on Saturday and lost to Providence, 6-1, on Sunday. Albany avoided the sweep in doubles play against Bryant as senior Susan Ma (Parkville, Mo./Park Hills South) and junior Aubrey Brooks (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) recorded an 8-6 win over Jessica Vickers and Valeria Couto Cuervo. On Sunday, the Great Danes once again avoided the sweep in doubles play as seniors Melissa Coughlin (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) and Laine Mackey (Leawood, Kan./Shawnee Mission) posted an 8-6 win at No. 2 doubles over Ayushi Sinha and Melissa Ferry of Providence. Brooks won the lone singles match for the Great Danes, defeating Ayush Sinha, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 3 singles. The Great Danes are back in action when they host Manhattan on April 9.
The Binghamton women’s team (7-8) edged visiting Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-3, in its only home match of the season Sunday afternoon. The visiting Knights captured the doubles point, but the Bearcats registered four wins in singles play to clinch the match. Senior Anna Edelman (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck North) cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph at first singles, raising her record to 29-7, including 11-4 in duals. Juniors Emma Leibowicz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) and Marina Bykovskaya (Saratov, Russia/Secondary School 8) posted straight set wins at sixth and fifth singles, respectively. Senior Yulia Smirnova (Moscow, Russia/Secondary School 1574) clinched the victory with a three-set win over Egzona Morina. Classmate Lauren Bates (Buffalo, N.Y./Kenmore West) returned to the lineup for her first match since suffering an injury in early March. The Bearcats will face UMBC and Boston University on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Bearcat men (6-13) won both their matches and have now won four of their last five. The Bearcats reasserted their strength against conference opponents with a 6-1 win over a talented UMBC squad on Saturday. After sweeping the doubles matches, Binghamton won five of six singles contests, all in straight sets. On Sunday, the Bearcats edged host George Washington, 4-3. The doubles point was pivotal as Binghamton won at the top two spots before the teams split the six singles contests. Seniors Sven Vloedgraven (Lochem, Netherlands/Isendoorn College) and Arnav Jain (Mumbai, India/J.M.L. School) continued their dominance at the top of the lineup with two wins apiece. Vloedgraven saw his national ranking slip to No. 101 despite running his singles win streak to 16 matches. He is 16-2 in duals and boosted his career record to 108-33. Jain improved to 21-9 overall. The Bearcats host Buffalo and Fairleigh Dickinson this Saturday in their only home matches of the season.
The Boston University men (8-8) got back to .500 with two victories last week at home. The Terriers notched a 7-0 sweep over Holy Cross and a 5-2 win against Army. Junior Regis Chang (Mattapoisett, Mass./Old Rochester Regional H.S.), junior Michael Kopelman (Treasure Island, Fla./Florida State) and sophomore Ferdinand Brunet (London, England/Stony Brook) each won two singles matches to help the Terriers earn their most wins in a season since going 12-11 in 2007. They avenged last year’s 6-1 loss at Army by winning two of the three doubles contests and then four of the six singles matches. They will next travel to Fairfield on Sunday, April 10. Due to the poor weather conditions on Friday, the Boston U. women (9-6) were unable to play their Senior Day match against UMass. The Terriers will next travel to St. John’s for a match against the Red Storm on Saturday and Binghamton on Sunday.
University of Hartford’s men’s (2-8) and women’s (2-7) tennis teams dropped matches to Sacred Heart and Hofstra over the weekend, both at home at the Hartford Tennis Courts. Sophomore Marco Neves (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Salesiano Santa Teresinha) picked up the only point of the week for the Hawks, winning at No. 2 singles on the men’s side against Hofstra, 6-3, 6-2. The Hawks also got strong play out of the men’s top doubles team, as junior Aneil Bhalla (Ottawa, Ontario/Merivale) and sophomore Josh Isaacson (Marietta, Ga./George Walton) took their match against Sacred Heart, 8-3, on Saturday before being edged by Hofstra’s top duo, 9-8 (7-4). Head Coach Michael Raymond also expressed satisfaction with the performance of the top women’s doubles team, freshman Katina Zampas (Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills/Capistrano Valley Christian) and junior Maggie Sabatino (Antioch, Ill./Antioch), who fell in both their matches over the weekend but made steady improvement, falling to Hofstra by an 8-5 count. The Hawks have three matches in as many days this coming weekend, starting with a home date against Holy Cross on Thursday. Hartford then travels to Lafayette on Friday and Marist on Saturday before closing out the season with four of its last five matches at home.
The UMBC men’s tennis team (10-5) dropped a 6-1 decision to three-time defending America East champion Binghamton on Saturday evening at Twin Lakes RC. The match was moved to the indoor complex after rain fell in the Baltimore area in the morning and early afternoon hours. UMBC dropped its second straight match. UMBC got on the board when No. 5 sophomore Gaulthier Berret (Lagny Sur Marne, France/Institute Deschamp) edged Ruben Haggai, 6-4, 7-5. Berret has a 10-2 record in singles play this spring with his two setbacks coming in three-set matches. Retriever junior No. 4 Joe Adewumi (Phoenix, Ariz./North Canyon) played a tightly contested match, but fell, 7-6, 6-3, to Alexandre Haggai. The women (8-7) had three matches scheduled this week, but did not compete. The March 31 match vs. Richmond was postponed due to weather with no make-up date announced. The April 1 match at Towson was rescheduled for April 18 and the April 2 contest vs. Liberty was cancelled. The men’s match vs. Liberty was also scrubbed. Both teams play at home on Saturday morning. The men continue their five-match homestand vs. Norfolk State while the women host league rival Binghamton.
The Stony Brook University men’s team (4-7) won its only match of the week while the women (9-3) went 3-0. Playing for the first time in almost a month, the men coasted to a 7-0 win over Quinnipiac. Stony Brook did not drop a set in singles play. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Seawolves. The Stony Brook women did not drop a set in singles play against Long Island and Quinnipiac. The Seawolves dropped just one set in singles play in the victory over Fairleigh Dickinson. The women have won four straight matches. Both the men and women will host three home matches this weekend, with the men hosting St. Francis (Pa.) April 8, NJIT April 9 and Bryant April 10 while the women take on Towson, NJIT and St. John’s. The Seawolves will honor their three seniors - Ivan Rummel (Budapest, Hungary/Altisz Gymnasium), Fanny Charliquart (Gueugnon, France/Lycee Camille Claudel) and Gayatri Krishnan (Chennai, India/National Inst. of Open Schooling) - prior to the match against Hofstra on April 12.