VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's tennis (13-8) will carry the No. 4 seed into the Mid-American Conference Championship and will face top-seeded Western Michigan (18-5) in a 11 a.m. Friday semifinal in DeKalb, Ill. Northern Illinois is hosting the four-team tournament. Second-seeded Buffalo will face third-seeded Ball State in Friday's second semifinal. The winners will meet for the MAC title and accompanying automatic NCAA tournament berth at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

The Bearcats were in a three-way tie for second place during the regular season (at 4-3) and were the lone team to pin a loss on Western Michigan. Binghamton has won six of its last seven matches, including a commanding 6-1 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday in a match that clinched the program's second straight MAC postseason berth. 

Last season, BU surprised 23-time MAC champion WMU 4-3 in the semifinals before falling to fourth-seeded Buffalo in the championship match. This year, the teams split two matches with the then-67th-ranked Broncos winning 6-1 on March 19 and BU returning the favor with a riveting 4-3 win on April 8 at the Binghamton Tennis Center. Both matches were played indoors.

"We are excited to be going back to DeKalb for the MAC tournament," head coach Nick Zieziula said. "This league is so tight from top to bottom ... if you don't bring your best effort and focus any given day then you aren't going to get the result that you want. The same holds for the tournament. Throw the seeding out. What matters is who stays focused in the present tense and who is going to do the better job of taking care of the small things. We stuck with the process against Northern Illinois from beginning to end. Everyone took care of their job to the best of their ability. If we stick with that this week I like our chances."

Binghamton seniors Sid Hazarika and Eliott Hureau occupy the top two spots in the lineup and have combined for 134 singles and 122 doubles wins in their careers. Hazarika ranks 10th in program history with 68 career singles wins. Hureau is 20-12 overall this year, including a 13-7 record in duals. Both were honored before Saturday's match and head into their final conference tournaments. Junior No. 4 Thomas Caputo (team-best 14-7 in duals) has won seven straight matches and junior No. 6 Frenk Kote has strung together five straight victories. Freshmen Ludovico Cestarollo (19-14) and Valentin Bouchet (21-9) have been strengths at Nos. 3 and 5 singles, respectively.