Seawolves Post Near Perfect Weeks, Nab Weekly Awards - AmericaEast.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – As the regular season winds down, conference squads had busy weeks preparing for the 2012 America East Tennis Championship.
Stony Brook’s No. 1 singles players Nikita Fomin (Moscow Russia/Bradenton) and Nini Lagvilava (Tbilisi, Georgia/Number 29) posted huge weeks on the courts leading the Seawolves to four straight wins to pick up men’s and women’s Player of the Week honors.
Fomin grabs his third player of the week award this spring after going a combined 6-1 in singles and doubles action last week. The sophomore went unbeaten at No. 1 singles defeating all four of his opponents in straight sets. Fomin and the Seawolves have won five straight matches.
Lagvilava nets her second weekly award of 2012 following a perfect week on the tennis courts. Recording perfect 4-0 records at doubles and No. 1 singles, Lagvilava did not drop a set last week in leading Stony Brook to four wins. The sophomore is now 12-4 in singles action this season.
Albany dropped its first two matches last week falling on Senior Day to UMass, 4-1, and to Rhode Island on the road, 6-1, but then went on to defeat Providence, 4-3. Against the Minutewomen, Cheryl Kukkonen (Richmond Hill, Ontario/St. Theresa of Lisieux) picked up a victory at No. 3 singles for the Danes’ only point. Kirsten Scott (Calgary, Alberta/National Sport School) nabbed a win at No. 2 singles against Rhode Island. Albany took two out of three doubles matches to collect the double point which proved to be the difference against Providence as the teams split the six singles matches. Albany concludes the regular season with a match at conference foe Hartford on Thursday.
Binghamton’s men’s tennis team won its lone match of the week, defeating visiting UMBC 5-1 in a rematch of the 2011 America East final. The Bearcats took all three doubles matches to claim the early point and the won four of the five competed singles matches – all in straight sets – to notch the team’s third win in a row. Senior No. 1 Alexandre Haggai (St. Denis, Reunion Island/Lycee Bellepierre) dropped just two games in his singles win and freshman No. 3 Ismael Dinia (Rabat, Morocco/Lycee Descartes) won his team-high 22nd singles match of the year. Binghamton plays three matches in its final week of the regular season – a non-conference tilt against longtime region rival Colgate and then Saturday matches against America East foes Stony Brook and Hartford. Those matches will help determine the seeds for the upcoming conference championship, where the Bearcats will be aiming for their fifth straight title. The Binghamton women dropped their only match of the week with a 5-2 loss to UMBC on Saturday. The Bearcats received a pair of singles wins from Katherine Medianik (Brooklyn, N.Y./Laurel Springs) and Emma Leibowicz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allerdice). Leibowicz also picked up a doubles victory on the afternoon, giving her 63 in her career, which is seventh-best in program history. Binghamton travels to take on both Stony Brook and Hartford to close out the regular season. Binghamton is 22-2 all-time versus both opponents.
Winning their third match in the last four contests, the Boston University men earned a 6-1 victory at Hartford last week. Josh Friedman (Los Angeles, Calif./Milken Community) led Boston U. with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles, while classmate Alex Hallenbeck (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Prep) dropped just one game in a dominating 6-1, 6-0 win in the No. 6 slot. The Terriers will next host Holy Cross on April 18 before visiting Army on Saturday to conclude the regular season. The Boston U. women concluded the regular season with a 5-2 loss. The Terriers fell at William & Mary, 5-2, then dropped a 7-0 decision at No. 42 VCU. Vivien Laszloffy (Budapest, Hugary/Thomas Mann Gymnasium) led the Terriers with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles. Her win came against No. 118 Maria Belaya and it is her first win over a national ranked opponent this year. The Terriers will next look to defend their America East title at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York April 27-29.
The Hartford men picked up a 4-3 victory over Holy Cross on Friday, the team’s second win of the season and first road win of the spring. The Hawks collected all of their points in singles play as Macro Neves, Aneil Bhalla (Ottawa, Ontario/Merivale), Josh Isaacson, and Michael Kennelly all won their matches at Nos. 1-4 singles. Against St. Francis (Pa.), the Hawks narrowly missed a second straight second straight win as Neves, Bhalla and Kennelly earned wins. For the women, Abby Liu (Houston, Texas/Cypress Falls) went 2-0 at the top spot while Ashley Harel picked up a win at No. 2 singles against St. Francis, 6-3, 6-3.
The UMBC women’s tennis team won for the fourth time in five meetings as they defeated host Binghamton 5-2 on April 14. The Retrievers have won four straight matches, and 11 of their last 13 overall. The win against Binghamton was UMBC’s first against the Bearcats since the 2007 season. Four Retrievers won in both singles and doubles action including Carmen Jackman (Silver Spring, Md./Blake). She teamed with Kim Berghaus (Offenbach, Germany/Leibnizgynasium) at the No. 1 doubles position and won 8-2, helping UMBC earn the doubles point. She also won the match-clinching fourth-point by winning her No. 3 singles match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. Jackman leads the team with 20 doubles victories on the season the season and now has 104 match victories in her career. Shalini Sahoo (New Delhi, India/TCU) earned her team-best 20th singles victory as she triumphed at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles against Binghamton. The UMBC men fell at Binghamton, 5-1. Joe Adewumi (Phoenix, Ariz./North Canyon) was the lone Retriever victor, capturing a win at No. 2 singles. Adewumi now has 21 wins in 2011-2012 and has 97 career victories. The men are slated to conclude the regular season at Navy this Saturday, while the women are not scheduled to compete until the league championships.
Both the Stony Brook men’s and women’s tennis squads went a perfect 4-0 last week. The women’ squad opened the week by knocking off NJIT, 4-3. The Seawolves dropped the doubles point but then won four singles matches in straight sets. Nini Lagvilava and Polina Movchan (Kiev, Ukraine) combined to go 4-0 at No. 1 doubles. Lagvilava then went 4-0 at No. 1 singles and Movchan went 4-0 at No. 2 singles. The Stony Brook men are riding a five match winning streak after a solid week. Nikita Fomin is 13-1 at No. 1 singles in the dual season. Both the men’s and women’s teams return to action this weekend hosting Binghamton and Hartford.