The University of Akron Athletics
Tennis Falls 6-1 At Buffalo In Regular Season Finale
April 18 | Women's Tennis
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University of Akron
tennis team lost 6-1 to Buffalo on Saturday at University Tennis
Center in the regular-season finale for both teams. The
Mid-American Conference Championship runs next Thursday-Sunday
(April 23-26) on the campus of Bowling Green, but both Akron (15-7,
4-4 MAC) and Buffalo (13-5, 6-2 MAC) have earned a bye out of the
event's first round. UA is avoiding playing in the opening round
for the first time since the championship went to its current
format in 2000.
The Bulls got off to a quick start by sweeping the doubles point
and then claimed four straight-set singles victories. The Zips
scored their lone point at No. 1 singles, where Zara Harutyunyan scored a 6-2, 6-1 win over Deni
Harijanto. Harutyunyan finished MAC play with a 7-1 singles mark
and is 20-1 against dual-match singles competition this season
(37-4 overall in singles). The No. 3 singles point was closely
contested, with UA's Tanyaradzwa Gombera losing 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to
Smaranda Stan.
The Zips finished in a tie with Toledo (13-9, 4-4 MAC) for fifth
place in the league standings – one position better than the
spot in which the program was picked to finish in a preseason poll
of the conference's head coaches, and four positions higher than
the squad has finished in each of the last two seasons. Due to
Toledo's 5-2 win over Akron in regular-season play on March 20, the
Rockets earned the No. 5 seed in next week's MAC Championship.
Sixth-seeded Akron will face third-seeded Western Michigan (19-7,
6-2 MAC) in Friday's MAC Championship quarterfinal round. Match
time is scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT at Keefe Courts on the BGSU
campus. In the event of inclement weather, matches will be moved
indoors to Perrysburg Tennis Center. Click the link at the top of
this article to download a complete bracket. Then 70th-ranked
Western Michigan defeated the Zips 4-3 in Akron on April 11.
Miami (Ohio) (13-6, 8-0 MAC) and Buffalo enter the conference
tournament as the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively.
Akron wrapped up the regular season with a winning record for the
first time since the 1995-96 squad finished 12-9, and the Zips four
MAC victories are the most in team history (program went 3-3 in
1992-93 and 3-6 in 1998-99 in MAC play).
RESULTS
Buffalo 6, Akron 1
Doubles
1. Harijanto/Popescu (UB) def. Harutyunyan/Baronayte (UA) 8-2
2. Subenkova/Petrova (UB) def. Gombera/Castro Cota (UA) 8-6
3. Stan/Toia (UB) def. Benjamin/Lindsey
Berry (UA) 8-4
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Exh. Alyssa Carlson/Langworthy (UA) def. Jenelle
Jones-Mitchell/Sonya Ivanyuk (UB), 8-0
Singles
1. Zara Harutyunyan (UA) def. Denise Harijanto (UB)
6-2, 6-1
2. Diana Popescu (UB) def. Anna
Baronayte (UA) 6-4, 6-2
3. Smaranda Stan (UB) def. Tanyaradzwa
Gombera (UA) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
4. Diana Toia (UB) def. Jeremie Benjamin (UA) 6-1, 6-3
5. Aleksandra Petrova (UB) def. Kerry
Langworthy (UA) 6-3, 6-2
6. Anna Subenkova (UB) def. Carolina
Castro Cota (UA) 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish
Doubles – 1, 3, 2
Singles – 4, 6, 5, 2, 1, 3
Players Mentioned
