Toledo fails to pick up win over the weekend to open MAC play

The University of Toledo men’s and women’s tennis teams both faced tough defeats over the weekend.

The women’s team (6-9, 0-2 MAC) took a tough 6-1 loss in their Mid-American Conference season opener at Buffalo on Friday before dropping 5-2 at Akron on Sunday.

The men (7-13, 0-3 MAC) dropped a 4-3 match to Binghamton on Sunday at UT’s outdoor tennis courts, making it their seventh straight loss.

Buffalo got things going quickly with a 6-2 win over the Rocket duo of senior Emily Mazzola and sophomore Sidnay Huck. Freshman Claire Aleck and senior Mackenzie Bowman didn’t fare much better in the No. 2 doubles, dropping 6-2 as well.

The third match was called with the sets tied at 5-5 due to time constraints with Buffalo already winning with point.

Mazzola took a tough loss in the No. 1 singles 6-2, 6-1 to Buffalo’s Tanja Stojanvaska. After an intense match, Huck picked up the only point for UT in three sets, 6-3, 6-7, 13-11, needing 13 points to win the final set. Sophomore Megan Miller and Aleck went to three sets in the No. 4 and No. 5 singles matches, but both fell in their final sets to their Bulls foes.

The Rockets returned to the courts on Sunday at Akron Mazzola and Huck kicked off play in the No. 1 doubles by defeating Karalina Maksimaua and Shannon Newnes 6-2. The Zips later earned their revenge in the No. 2 doubles with a 6-1 victory over Bowman and Aleck.

Senior Lauren Thai and Miller won the doubles point for UT in the No. 3 doubles with a 6-4 win.

Akron took the No. 1 and No. 2 singles in two-sets to take a 2-1 lead on the day. Two other Rockets went down in two sets by wide margins.

Sophomore Colleen O’Brien won the only singles match for the Rockets defeating Newnes 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in a three-set match.

Thai became the only other Rocket to pick up a set in the No. 6 singles. She took the first set 7-6 but went on to drop the next two sets 6-4, 1-0 (6).

The men’s team didn’t fare much better in their outing against Binghamton on Sunday.

Senior Stjepan Sisko and freshman Luka Vitosevic started the Rockets off in the right direction with a 6-4 win in the No. 1 doubles.

The freshman duo of Vince Anzalone and Serjen Olmedo defeated Sid Harzarika and Valentin Bouchet in the No. 3 doubles, 6-3 to win the doubles point for the Rockets and give them the lead.

Sisko’s extended his singles match winning streak to 14 with a 6-3, 6-2, win the No. 1 singles slot.

Toledo went on to lose the next four matches by a combined eight sets to one, putting them behind 4-2 and out of the game going into the final match.

Freshman Danilo Dejovic defeated Josh Druger 7-5, 6-2 to end the day with a win for UT despite losing their third straight MAC game to Binghamton.

The women will return to Toledo for a game against school rival Bowling Green at 3 p.m. Friday, April 1. The men will be back to action when they travel to Buffalo on Saturday, April 2, with that match starting at 1 p.m.