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Conference champions
Women’s tennis team scores UB’s first-ever MAC title
By BRIAN WOLFF
Reporter Contributor
The UB women’s tennis team claimed its first Mid-American Conference Championship—and the university’s first-ever postseason MAC title—on Sunday afternoon, coming back to defeat Western Michigan University, 4-3, at the Ellicott Tennis Courts.
Members of the women’s tennis
team and coach Kathy Twist, center, celebrate the team’s 4-3 victory over
Western Michigan on Sunday.
PHOTO: PAUL HOKANSON
Down 3-0 after the doubles point and two singles matches, the Bulls stormed back by winning four consecutive matches, capped off by Smaranda Stan’s victory at fourth singles. Western Michigan was ranked 60th in the country entering the tournament. With the win, UB claims a trip to the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
“This is an outstanding day, not only for our team but for the entire University at Buffalo community,” said head coach Kathy Twist. “We could not have done this without the support from everyone, beginning with our administration. We made history today, but I believe this is just the first of many championships for this athletics department.”
Playing at home at the Ellicott Tennis Courts before a large and vocal crowd, the Bulls did not allow a 3-0 deficit to deny them the title. UB got on the board when Diana Popescu defeated Noriko Saruta at third singles, 6-3, 6-2. The momentum continued as the Bulls cut the WMU lead to 3-2 with a victory at fifth singles as Diana Toia defeated Ashley Moccia, 7-5, 7-5. Sophomore Denise Harijanto tied the match up at 3-3 when she defeated Priyanka Parekh at second singles, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.
That set the stage for Stan’s contest at fourth singles against Emily Dudzick. Dudzick took the first set, 6-3, but Stan took the second set, 7-5, to force a pivotal third set. Stan was down 4-2 in the third set before taking the next two game to make it 4-4. Stan and Dudzick split the next two games to make it 5-5 before Stan broke serve to go up 6-5 and then served for the match to claim the 7-5 victory.
“What I really enjoyed about our team during this tournament was that every single person played a part in the victory,” said Twist. “Whether it was during our matches against Toledo and Miami, or today, I can truly say this was a total team victory.”
UB defeated Toledo, 4-3, in the quarterfinals on Friday and advanced to its third straight MAC Championship match with a 4-2 victory over Miami in the semifinals on Saturday.
Harijanto and Stan were named to the All-Tournament team and Stan was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Stan went 3-0 in singles during the tournament, claiming the clinching point in all three matches.