The tennis team turned in another winning performance this weekend as they defeated both Akron and Buffalo.
On Friday, the Falcons hosted Akron and defeated them by a score of 6-1.
The Falcons started off the day by winning all three doubles matches, and the Falcons won five of the singles matches, winning four of those in straight sets.
The closest of the three doubles matches came when Akron’s Karolina Maksimava and Martina Zerbola rallied from a 3-1 deficit against Brozovich and Chiricosta in which they tied the match at 3-3. Brozovich and Chiricosta then took the lead by a 6-3 score. Akron then closed the gap and came within a single game, but an unfazed Brozovich and Chiricosta captured back-to-back games for an 8-5 win.
Head coach Penny Dean stressed the importance of getting out to an early lead over Akron.
“Akron is a very talented team with some good players,” said BG head coach Penny Dean. “But they have struggled a little bit lately with injuries and illness. I felt that we needed to start well, in both doubles and singles, to try to set the tone, and we were able to do that today.”
The Falcons took the early lead and never looked back as they almost blanked the Zips in what was a good day for the Falcons.
“It was great to play on campus today,” Dean said. “We get a fair amount of fans when we play at Perrysburg, but there’s just something about playing here in BG on a nice day.”
“There were a lot of fans between here and the baseball game this afternoon, there was a lot of orange in the crowd and it’s just such a fun atmosphere. We really appreciate the support and we hope to see a lot of orange in the crowd again tomorrow on Senior Day.”
On Saturday, the Falcons defeated Buffalo by a score 5-2 on Senior Day for seniors Nikki Chiricosta and Emily Reuland.
BG won all three doubles matches for the second day in a row and the Falcons then went on to win four of the six singles matches. The Falcons’ seniors went 4-0 combined; Nikki Chiricosta won at both singles and doubles against Buffalo.
Dean was satisfied with her team efforts and the support they had on Senior Day.
“This was a great team win,” Dean said. “Everyone on the roster contributed to this win. It was great to see such a big crowd today. We had some alumni back in town, and we could really feel the support from the entire crowd all day long.”
With this win, the Falcons finished off their home schedule with a perfect 7-0 record which included a 4-0 record against MAC opponents. More importantly, with the victory the Falcons improve to 10-6 overall and 4-2 in MAC play, and BG has clinched a berth in the MAC Championships.
“This was a good team win on Senior Day,” Dean said. “Nikki and Emily were determined to win their final home match, and I couldn’t be happier that they combined to go 4-0 today as we won as a team. We will look to keep the momentum going as we head into our matches next weekend.”
The Falcons will indeed look to take that momentum they gained from these matches as they will finish up the regular season the road at Ball State on Friday and then at their final game of the regular season at Miami University on Saturday.
