Video Preview with Coach Zieziula
MAC Championship Preview
MAC Championship Central

VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's tennis will make its tournament debut in the Mid-American Conference on Friday afternoon when the third-seeded Bearcats face second-seeded Western Michigan in a 2 p.m. (ET) semifinal at the Huskie Tennis Courts on the campus of Northern illinois University. Host and top-seeded NIU will face fourth-seeded Buffalo in the 10 a.m. semifinal with both winners advancing to the 1 p.m. championship tilt on Saturday. The MAC champion receives the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.

The Bearcats departed campus Wednesday afternoon for Dekalb, Ill. and will meet Western Michigan for the second time this season. Back on February 8, WMU posted a narrow 4-3 win over the visiting Bearcats, pinning BU with an 0-2 conference record at the time. But nine weeks later, Binghamton had shrugged off a 14-match losing streak and won its final three conference matches to grab a share of regular season runnerup honors. Now entering the program's first postseason tournament in the MAC, head coach Nick Zieziula and his squad will look to harness some of the mojo that led BU to seven consecutive conference titles in the America East. 

Junior No. 1 Sid Hazarika leads a veteran team at the top of the lineup. Hazarika, a two-time America East Player of the Year, has won 14 matches this season, including five of his last seven. Behind him stands the senior tandem of Robin Lesage and Ismael Dinia and No. 2 and No. 3 respectively. Lesage has won 15 matches, including five of his last six. Dinia is 6-1 at the third spot and owns 77 career singles victories, which ranks in the program's all-time top-10. Junior Eliott Hureau has 14 wins this season and went 4-1 against MAC foes.
 

Schedule of Events
Friday, April 24: Semifinals

10 a.m.	Match 1: No. 4 Buffalo vs. No. 1 NIU
2 p.m.	Match 2: No. 3 Binghamton vs. No. 2 Western Michigan

Saturday, April 25: Final

1 p.m.

Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 2