UMBC

New Haven, Conn.—The second-seeded UMBC men’s tennis team lost a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to No. 1 seed Binghamton in the title match of the America East Championship at the Yale Tennis Center.

UMBC (15-5) had advanced with a 4-3 decision over Stony Brook in the semifinals. The second-seeded UMBC women’s team (13-4) fell in the semifinals to third-seeded Binghamton.

In the men’s title match, the Bearcats won at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles to take the double point. UMBC, the defending league champions, got off to a good start in singles, as two Retriever seniors posted straight set wins. No. 6 Fernando Ferreira defeated Alex Dobrin, 6-3, 6-2 and No. 3 Irfan Shamasdin edged Moshe Levy, 6-4, 6-3.

Binghamton tied the match as Sebastian Dietz defeated No. 4 David Jackson, 6-3, 6-3. The final three matches went to three sets. At No. 1 singles, sophomore Chris Meyer won a tough 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Faisal Mohammed. At No. 2, Retriever junior Nick Savage-Pollock won the first set, 7-5, but Binghamton’s Sven Vloengraven took the second and third sets by identical 6-3 scores to even the match at 3-3.

At No. 5 singles, UMBC sophomore Fredi Voorman was undefeated in singles (5-0) since returning from a hand injury and defeated Arven Jain, 6-4 in the match’s first set. But Jain won a second-set tie-breaker, (7-6) and prevailed, 7-5 in the final set.

In the semifinals, UMBC won the doubles point over the Seawolves, and Jackson, Voorman and Ferreria triumphed to give the Retrievers a date with the Bearcats in the finals.

On the women’s side, the Retrievers saw their 12-match win streak come to a end. UMBC did capture the doubles point, but lost both three-set singles matches. Junior No. 4 Cornelia Carapcea and freshman No. 6 Emily Mannix won in straight sets, but senior No. 3 Pascaline Cette and junior No. 5 Joy Adewumi could not complete valiant comeback efforts. Cette dropped the first set to Yulia Smirnova, 6-2, but reversed that result with a 6-2 second set win. But Smirnova captured the deciding set, 6-4. Adewumi lost, 6-3 to Erica Rosenblum in the first set, but came back with a strong 6-1 victory in the second set. But Rosenblum prevailed in the deciding set, 6-4 and the Bearcats prevented UMBC from its second straight finals appearance.