Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)

VERONA, N.Y. - Binghamton men's tennis opened its spring season with wins over Bryant (6-1) and Marist (4-3) Saturday afternoon at the Turning Stone Casino. The matches marked the beginning of the Nick Zieziula coaching era and the seven-time reigning conference champion Bearcats didn't disappoint.

Binghamton opened against Bryant and after grabbing the doubles point, BU won five of the six singles matches. In the later match, BU surrendered the doubles point to Marist but won four of the six singles matches to pull out the narrow win.

"First off, hats off to both Bryant and Marist for their sportsmanship today," Zieziula said. "We played two solid squads in competitive matches with no officials ... and the honor and competitive spirit was great to be a part of. We competed well all the way through today at every position. We've got some work to do in the doubles but this was a great way to prep for our opening MAC matches. We'te looking forward to that challenge."

Junior Eliott Hureau went undefeated on the day, winning both his singles matches at No. 3 and also grabbing two doubles wins with partner Robin Lesage. In a pivotal match against Marist, Hureau dropped the first set in a tiebreak before storming back to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-1.  

Also winning twice in singles were junior Sid Hazarika, sophomore Thomas Caputo and senior Ismael Dinia. 

The Bearcats are off until opening up play in the Mid-American Conference in two weeks. Binghamton plays at Northern Illinois (Feb. 6) and then at Western Michigan (Feb. 8). 

Binghamton 6, Bryant 1
DOUBLES
1. Hazarika/Dinia (BU) def. Arguillo/Welsh (Bryant), 6-4
2. Lesage/Hureau (BU) def. Kuhar/Sipalu (Bryant), 6-4
3. John Templeman/Cory Depaola (Bryant) def. Caputo/Kote (BU), 6-4

Order of Finish: 1,3,2

SINGLES
1. Robin Lesage (BU) def. Kuhar (Bryant), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
2. Sid Hazarika (BU) def. Morris (Bryant), 6-1, 6-3
3. Eliott Hureau (BU) def. Welsh (Bryant), 6-2, 6-3
4. Thomas Caputo (BU) def. Vogt (Bryant), 6-4, 6-2
5. Ismael Dinia (BU) def. Ortiz (Bryant), 6-2, 6-4
6. Rubinstein (Bryant) def. Frenk Kote (BU), 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 10-3

Order of Finish: 2,3,4,1,5,6 

Binghamton 4, Marist 3
DOUBLES
1. Motta/Bjerke (M) def. Hazarika/Dinia (BU), 6-4
2. Lesage/Hureau (BU) def. Giudici/Chanthalangsy (M), 6-4
3. Kurz/Dube (M) def. Caputo/Shah (BU), 6-2

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

SINGLES
1. Sid Hazarika (BU) def. Fredrik Bjerke (M), 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1
2. Rudy Kurz (M) def. Robin Lesage (BU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Eliott Hureau (BU) def. Joe Dube (M), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1
4. Thomas Caputo (BU) def. Timo Tanzer (M), 6-3, 5-7, 6-0
5. Ismael Dinia (BU) def. Mateo Giudici (M), 6-3, 6-1
6. Justin Chanthalangsy (M) def. Vihar Shah (BU), 6-1, 6-2

Order of Finish: 1,2,3,4,5,6