The Eastern Michigan University women’s tennis team split its final regular season matches this past weekend. The Eagles fell at home to the University of New York at Buffalo Bulls (3-4) on Friday, but gained the upper hand over the University of Akron Zips, the two-time defending Mid-American Conference tournament champions, (4-3) on Saturday.
EMU finished the season 9-13 overall and 4-4 in the MAC.
Because of the MAC championships format change, only six out of the nine teams qualified for the league tournament.
Even though the Eagles share a 4-4 league record with two other teams, EMU lost its tiebreakers to Western Michigan University and UB in regular season meets which placed the team outside of the 2013 post-season tournament.
The weekend looked promising as the Eagles won all of the doubles matches against UB. Junior Nino Mebuke and freshman Klara Supejova teamed up to defeat UB’s Tanvi Shah and Miranda Podlas (8-3).
The No. 2 doubles junior Mariya Toncheva and sophomore Ankita Bhatia picked up an 8-4 win against Gopika Kapoor and Anamaria Candanoza from UB.
EMU sophomore Daphne Friedrichs and junior Zsofia Biro had a close match, but they came out victorious with an 8-7 win over Bulls players Laura Fernandez and Marta Stoyanova.
The Bulls looked almost like a completely different team when the singles action began. UB won all but two matches.
No. 4 singles player Friedrichs and No. 6 singles player Toncheva were the only individuals to defeat the competition.
Friedrichs won her match against UB’s Tamara Markovic in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-4). Toncheva had an easier time with two sets (6-4, 6-3).
The Eagles had a better time when the team took on Akron. EMU won two out of the three doubles matches. No.1 doubles team Mebuke and Supejova lost 8-4 to Angelina Jogasuria and Prang Pantusart.
EMU notched wins when the No. 2 duo of Toncheva and Bhatia defeated their competition with a score of 8-4, and when No. 3 doubles team Biro and Friedrichs went 8-1 against Akron’s Madison Cohen and Angelika Jogasuria.
Singles competition earned the Eagles three wins. Supejova went three sets with Angelina Jogasuria, winning the first and third (6-4, 3-6, 7-5).
Biro and Toncheva both went two sets each with their competition. No. 5 singles player Biro easily
defeated Angelika Jogasuria 6-0, 6-1.
Toncheva defeated Cohen 6-4, 6-3 to be one of the last winning matches for the Eagles.
EMU lost singles matches with Mebuke, Bhatia and Friedrichs. The Eagles fought hard but couldn’t claim a win.
The team is off until August, when it begins its 2013-14 season.
