VESTAL, N.Y. - The Binghamton Men's Tennis team returns to action this Saturday, Mar. 13 against University at Buffalo. Head coach Nick Ziezula's squad won five matches last season before the remainder were canceled due to the pandemic. This is the Bearcats first time competing in over a year due to Covid-19 and the team as a whole is excited to get back to normal. 

"We are extremely grateful for the hard work of our director of athletics, Pat Elliott, and all the staff for getting us the opportunity to compete in a safe way," Ziezula said. "Chris Downey and his staff have put a lot of time and effort into helping us do this and we are thrilled to get to compete. We have a young team with a ton of enthusiasm. Our training has been intense, energetic and we have been growing each week. Competing this weekend is going to help keep that growth going and the players are really excited."

The Bearcats return four veterans and welcome five newcomers to the 2021 roster. The four returning sophomores will bring the most experience to the young Bearcat squad. Michael Pawlowicz finished last season as Binghamton's starter in No. 1 singles, and hopes to improve on a solid freshman campaign. Dan Pergel, who progressed to No. 3 singles by the end of last season, will add to the depth in the singles lineup. Pawlowicz and Pergel combined for 23 wins over the short 2020 campaign. Adi Ben Ari and Luke Karniewich also saw action last season and look to improve their game in 2021. Binghamton welcomes five newcomers in Joshua Kim, Diego Ramos, Joshua Roe Flannelly, Shourya Verma and Kyle Weekes.

"With no fall competition and some of our freshmen not being physically present in the fall it has been like drinking from a firehose with the amount coming at them," Ziezula said. "Josh Kim and Shourya Verma have done a tremendous job soaking it all up. Diego Ramos was here in the fall but it has been easier to see the jumps in his game with more training time this semester. Our captains, Pawlowicz and Pergel, have been vital to helping everyone block out distractions and stay focused on improving bit by bit. Michael and Dan have really set the tone each day for the group and it has helped the freshmen tremendously."

The schedule for this season consists of only MAC opponents. After opening the season at home, they travel to take on Western Michigan and Northern Illinois on March 20-21st. They then return home to host Ball State (April 2nd), Toledo (April 4th), Northern Illinois (April 9th) and Western Michigan at the Binghamton Tennis Center. Finally, they close out the season with three away matches against Buffalo (4/17), Ball State (4/24), and Toledo (4/25). 

The Bearcats open the season at home on March 13th against the University at Buffalo in MAC conference play at the Binghamton Tennis Center at 3 PM.