Women's Tennis Falls to Buffalo in MAC Quarterfinal

Friday, April 29

10 am

University of Akron

Buffalo

Women's Tennis Falls to Buffalo in MAC Quarterfinal

April 29 | Women's Tennis

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OXFORD, Ohio – The fourth-seeded University of Akron women's tennis team was edged 4-0 by fifth-seeded Buffalo on Friday, April 29 in the quarterfinal round of the Mid-American Conference Championships at the Hepburn Varsity Tennis Courts on the campus of Miami University.

"Disappointing loss today but I am not disappointed in our overall season," said head coach Brandon Padgett. "Buffalo came out with a 'nothing to lose' mentality, and played free and confident. We struggled from the beginning in doubles for the first time in awhile, and that set the tone for the match."

The loss eliminated the Zips (15-10, 5-3 MAC) from the tournament, while the Bulls (14-7, 5-3 MAC) advanced to take on top-seeded Ball State in Saturday's semifinal.

Buffalo took the early advantage by claiming the doubles point, behind victories at the first and second positions, and won at the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 singles spots.

"We were in control on the final three courts, but we just could not extend the match on one of the other three singles courts to give ourselves a chance to win," Padgett finished. "Our youth showed up in the fact that we played tight, looking like a team full of players that had never played in the conference tournament before. The atmosphere is different, and we simply did not adjust quickly enough. We were on our way to making the match very interesting, but ran out of time."

At No. 1 singles, All-MAC First Team pick and league player-of-the-year Ariadna Blinova (Riga, Latvia) fell 6-0, 6-3 to Tanja Stojanovska. Junior Karalina Maksimava (Mogilev, Belarus) lost 7-5, 6-3 to Margarita Kotok at No. 3 while senior Martina Zerbola (Neuquen, Argentina) was defeated 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 by Laura Holterbosch.

At the time the match was clinched, junior Shannon Newnes (Romford, London) led 6-3, 4-2 at No. 5 singles, while sophomores Sophia Geier and Carli Knezevich tied their opponents at No. 2 and 6, respectively. Additionally, the UA pair of Maksimava and Zerbola were tied 2-2 at No. 3 doubles when UB secured the early point.

The MAC Championship runs through Sunday, with the winner earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Akron closed out the season with a winning record for the first time since the 2012-13 squad finished 18-10.

BUFFALO 4, AKRON 0

April 29, 2016

Doubles:

1. Dayana Agasieva/Laura Holterbosch (UB) def. Ariadna Blinova/Shannon Newnes (UA), 6-2

2. Tanja Stojanovska/Margarita Kotok (UB) def. Sophia Geier/Carli Knezevich (UA), 6-0

3. C. Martinez-Blanco/Mercedes Losada (UB) vs. Karalina Maksimava/Martina Zerbola (UA), 2-2 DNF

Singles:

1. Tanja Stojanovska (UB) def. Ariadna Blinova (UA), 6-0, 6-3

2. C. Martinez-Blanco (UB) vs. Sophia Geier (UA), 4-6, 5-1 DNF

3. Margarita Kotok (UB) def. Karalina Maksimava (UA) 7-5, 6-3

4. Laura Holterbosch (UB) def. Martina Zerbola (UA), 6-1, 6-2

5. Sanjana Sudhir (UB) vs. Shannon Newnes (UA), 6-3, 4-2 DNF