Fomin, Liu Post Big Weekends, Tabbed Players of the Week - AmericaEast.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – After undefeated weekends in singles action, Stony Brook’s Nikita Fomin (Moscow, Russia/Bradenton) and Hartford’s Abby Liu (Houston, Texas/Cypress Falls/Texas) collect the men’s and women’s Player of the Week awards.
Fomin picks up his second weekly honor of the 2012 spring season after winning all three of his matches at No. 1 singles over the weekend. That includes a straight set (6-3, 6-2) victory over No. 78 Marc Powers from Yale. He also teamed with Francis Bertrand to go 2-1 at No. 1 doubles.
Liu grabs her first Player of the Week nod by picking up her third straight singles victory at the No. 1 spot over Bryant this weekend. Liu improved her singles record to 3-1 this spring and 14-3 in her first year as a Hartford Hawk.
Albany dropped its lone match last week at Fairfield, 4-3. The Great Danes were able to pick up the doubles point with wins by the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams and then quickly went on to win at No. 6 and No. 3 singles. Eventually the match was lost in a three set bout at No. 5 singles. Albany will continue its spring schedule against Army on March 8 at Sportime Racquet Club in Schenectady, N.Y.
The Binghamton men’s tennis team dropped a pair of home matches over the weekend while the Bearcat women split a pair in Buffalo, N.Y. On Friday, the women cruised past Niagara, 6-1, winning all three doubles matches and four of six on the singles court. Marina Bykovskaya (Saratov, Russia, Secondary School 8) won 6-5, 7-3 at No. 3 singles and picked up an 8-3 doubles victory with Katherine Medianik (Brooklyn, N.Y./Laurel Springs). Medianik also notched a singles win, 6-1, 6-0 over the Purple Eagles. The following afternoon, Binghamton fell to Buffalo, 5-2. Bykovskaya recorded her second singles win of the weekend improving her season record to a team-best 13-11. The women continue the spring slate with a match at St. Bonaventure on Saturday. The Bearcat men fell to Illinois State (6-1) and Dartmouth (7-0) over the weekend. Rafael Rodrigues (Sao Paulo, Brazil) posted the team’s lone singles win against Illinois State, a 6-0, 6-3 victory at the No. 6 spot. Rodrigues and Apler Alimoglu (Istanbul, Turkey) teamed at No. 3 doubles to pick up a win. Binghamton won the top doubles match but fell in all singles contests. Next up for the men is a pair of matches against ranked opponents in North Carolina this weekend against No. 21 NC State and No. 43 UNC-Wilmington.
The Boston University women’s tennis team (4-3) suffered its third straight defeat with a 6-1 loss to No. 41 Brown. Leonie-Charlotte Athanasiadis (Haltern am See, Germany/Joseph Koenig Gymnasium) led the Terriers with a three-set victory at No. 2 singles and a win with Jessi Linero (Kay Biscayne, Fla./Gulliver Prep) in doubles action. No. 19 Yale pays a visit to Boston on Thursday. The men are still looking for their first win of the season after a 5-2 loss to UConn. Alex Hallenbeck (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep) teamed with Marcus VanBerkel (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Episcopal) for a No. 3 doubles win and then came back to win at No. 6 singles. Jesse Frieder (Providence, R.I./Wheeler School) earned the other point with a three-set win at No. 2 singles. Boston U. will start its Spring Break trip in California with a match against Loyola Marymount on March 11.
Both Hartford tennis squads fell to Bryant over the weekend. The women lost a 6-1 decision while the men fell 7-0. For the women, Abby Liu picked up the lone Hartford point against the Bulldogs with a 7-5, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles. On the men’s side, Michael Kennelly (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) played well out of the No. 3 singles slot, pushing his match to tiebreaks in both sets before falling 7-6(9), 7-6(3). Both Hawk squads are off until the final week of March. The women return to the court to host Marist in West Hartford on March 28 while the men are on the road at Fairfield on March 29 and Hofstra on March 30.
In the lone match of the week, the UMBC men (4-3) lost to Penn, 7-0. The Retrievers lost three singles matches in three sets including two in tiebreakers and dropped No. 2 doubles, 9-8 and No. 1 doubles, 8-6. The Retrievers won 62 singles games and 25 doubles games vs. the Quakers. Joe Adewumi (Phoenix, Ari./North Canyon) suffered a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 defeat in one of the toughest matches of the day. The women did not compete last week. Both teams face Big South power Liberty on March 7 and then travel to South Carolina for matches with South Carolina Upstate and Longwood this weekend.
Stony Brook competed at Yale over the weekend. The women’s team dropped a 7-0 decision to No. 19 Yale on Sunday in its lone match while the men fell 4-3 to both Marist and Fairleigh Dickinson before losing 6-1 to the host Bulldogs. Nikita Fomin went 3-0 at No. 1 singles on the week including a win over No. 78 Marc Powers from Yale. He also combined with Francis Bertrand (Repentigny, Quebec) to go 2-1 at No. 1 doubles last week. The Seawolves jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Marist but the Red Foxes rallied to win at the No. 3-6 singles position in three sets to pull out the win. The men return to action against Princeton on Friday while the women have the week off.