For the second straight year, the BG tennis team couldn’t quite get over the hump in the Mid-American Conference Championships.
The fifth-seeded Falcons lost to No. 1 seed Western Michigan in the semifinal round for the second straight year, coming up just short of a championship game berth.
BG lost to nationally-ranked (60) WMU, 4-0, on Friday. The Broncos, however, would go on to lose to Buffalo – a team BG beat during the regular season – in the championship game.
Despite the loss, coach Penny Dean still thought the team had a good tournament.
“We played pretty well,” she said, “but WMU came out very fired up and a little more ready to play the MAC tournament then we were.”
The Falcons didn’t get off to a good start as they lost the doubles point for only the third time this season.
The duo of Christine Chiricosta/Kelsey Jakupcin lost at the top flight, while Katia Babina/Stefanie Menoff lost at the third flight after WMU’s Yumi Matsuto/Emily Dudzik came from behind to win, 8-6. Jenna Nussbaum and Andrea Volle’s second-flight match was halted with the Broncos holding a 6-2 lead.
It was more of the same for BG in singles play.
Babina lost to Noriko Saruta – the winningest player in WMU history – 6-2, 6-3, at the third flight, while Nussbaum and Volle lost at the fifth and sixth flights, respectively, giving the Broncos three more points and clinching the match.
The three remaining matches were all stopped.
Chiricosta was close to defeating Priyanka Parekh at the second flight for the second time in two weeks, while Jakupcin was in the midst of tying her match with MAC Player of the Year Kerstin Pahl at the top flight at a set apiece. Menoff’s fourth-flight match was deadlocked at a set apiece.
On Friday, the Falcons avenged an early-season loss by beating Eastern Michigan, 4-2, tying the school record for most wins in a season with 16 and giving coach Dean her 200th victory.
The Falcons hadn’t beaten the Eagles since the 1999-00 season, a span of nine matches.
The Falcons got off to a strong start by winning the doubles point.
Babina/Menoff won at the third flight, 8-4, while Nussbaum/Volle lost at the second flight, 8-3. Needing a win to take the doubles point, BG looked to Jakupcin/Chiricosta at the top flight. The duo narrowly won, 8-6, to give BG the early lead.
BG and EMU split the first four matches to finish in singles play.
Chiricosta defeated Aditi Krishnan at the second flight by identical 6-0 scores, while Volle lost a total of only three games in her sixth-flight win.
The Falcons needed one win in the final two matches and Babina gave them just that.
After losing the first set, 6-2, to Tina Bestehorn at the third flight, Babina battled back to take a second-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (6). She would then go on to win the third set, 6-4, clinching the victory for the Falcons.
Because of Babina’s stellar play over the weekend, she earned a spot on the MAC All-Tournament team.
Looking back on the season, which saw the Falcons go 16-5, including a spot in the national rankings, Dean said this is just one of those seasons that will always be remembered.
“We had a great season,” she said. “There are really a lot of accomplishments, so this will be a year that sticks out.”
The tournament also marks the last for senior co-captains Nussbaum and Volle, who became the winningest class in BG tennis history.