April 4, 2008

TOLEDO, Ohio (BGSUFalcons.com) - The Bowling Green State University tennis team picked up an important win on Friday (April 4), downing the University at Buffalo by a 4-3 count. The Mid-American Conference dual match was held at the Shadow Valley Tennis Club in Toledo.

With the win, the Falcons improve to 13-2 overall and 2-2 in MAC play. The Bulls, picked to win the MAC in the league's preseason coaches poll, fall to 7-6 and 2-2, respectively.

BGSU took an early lead by claiming the doubles point. The Bulls captured a narrow 9-7 decision at the top flight, but the Falcons' senior co-captains, Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle, gutted out an 8-6 win at flight number two.

Sophomores Katia Babina and Samantha Kintzel were 8-4 winners at the third flight, topping Andreea Novaceanu and Aleksandra Petrova.

In singles play, the top-three flights all took three sets, while each of the bottom three flights were won with relative ease. The Bulls' Smaranda Stan won at the fourth flight, but Nussbaum won her fifth-flight match, dropping a total of only four games in her two sets.

At the sixth flight, junior Stefanie Menoff lost a total of just two games in her win over Tina Jacob.

Novaceanu outlasted junior Kelsey Jakupcin in a three-set match at the top flight. Falcon freshman Christine Chiricosta lost to Diana Popescu in another lengthy match. Despite beginning to cramp up during the first-set tiebreaker, Chiricosta rallied to win the second set, but Popescu was able to pull out the third set and the win.

At the third flight, however, Babina battled back after losing her first set to Denise Harijarto. The BG sophomore suffered a 6-1 loss, but won the second set by a 6-3 score, then lost only one game in her convincing third-set win.

The Falcons return to action Saturday afternoon (April 5), hosting the University of Akron. Weather permitting, the BGSU-UA match will begin at 1:00 p.m. at the BGSU tennis complex, located on the north side of Stadium Drive.

A FEW FALCON NOTES
* The Falcons now hold a 10-2 lead over Buffalo in the all-time series between the teams ... BG's win on Friday snapped a two-match UB series winning streak ... in each of the last two seasons, the home team has won by a 4-3 final.

* BGSU continued a recent run of success at Shadow Valley ... the Falcons have won 16 consecutive dual matches at the team's 'home away from home,' and BGSU is 30-1 at the facility over the last three-plus years ... the Falcons went 6-0 at the venue in the 2004-05 season, 8-1 in '05-06 and a perfect 8-0 last season, and BG is 8-0 at the site this year to date.

* Midway through the MAC season, the Falcons are embroiled in a four-way tie for third place ... BGSU, UB, Eastern Michigan and Toledo all have identical 2-2 records in MAC play ... Miami and Western Michigan each are 4-0 to sit atop the conference ... after the four-way logjam at third place, Ball State and Northern Illinois each are 1-3 and Akron is 0-4.

* Junior Stefanie Menoff improved to 18-4 in singles play this year, tying her with sophomore Samantha Kintzel and freshman Christine Chiricosta for the team lead in singles wins ... both Kintzel and Chiricosta are 18-6 on the year.

* Menoff is now a perfect 7-0 at the sixth flight in dual-match play ... she is 11-2 in dual matches this year to date, and now has a career singles record of 59-14.

* Sophs Kintzel and Katia Babina now have a 4-0 record in MAC doubles play, and the duo is 13-1 in all dual matches this year.

* Babina now has an overall doubles record of 24-3 this season, while Kintzel has improved to 23-4 in doubles this year to date.

* Kintzel's singles loss was her first of any kind since Feb. 16 ... she had won 15 consecutive matches (eight doubles, seven singles) since dropping a singles contest in mid-February vs. Duquesne.

* Seniors Andrea Volle and Jenna Nussbaum improved to 11-4 in dual-match doubles action this season ... Volle, BGSU's active career leader in doubles wins, now has 57 to rank 12th on the school list ... Nussbaum is 13th with 56 career doubles victories.

BOWLING GREEN 4, BUFFALO 3
Friday, April 4, 2008 - Shadow Valley; Toledo, Ohio
SINGLES
1 - Andreea Novaceanu (UB) def. Kelsey Jakupcin 7-5, 0-6, 6-2
2 - Diana Popescu (UB) def. Christine Chiricosta 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3
3 - Katia Babina (BGSU) def. Denise Harijarto 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
4 - Smaranda Stan (UB) def. Samantha Kintzel 6-1, 6-1
5 - Jenna Nussbaum (BGSU) def. Diana Toia 6-2, 6-2
6 - Stefanie Menoff (BGSU) def. Tina Jacob 6-2, 6-0
# - Anna Subenkova (UB) def. Libby Harrison 8-6

DOUBLES
1 - Harijarto/Popescu (UB) def. Chiricosta/Jakupcin 9-7
2 - Nussbaum/Andrea Volle (BGSU) def. Toia/Stan 8-6
3 - Babina/Kintzel (BGSU) def. Novaceanu/Aleksandra Petrova 8-4

# - exhibition; not included in match scoring