VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's tennis kicks off its 2021-22 season by hosting its annual The Star Group Binghamton Championship this weekend. The seven-team tournament will be held at the campus Lane Tennis Center all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Players from Army, Buffalo, NJIT, Colgate, Bucknell and Merrimack will join the Bearcats in a unique format. This year, two- or three-man teams will compete in mini duals consisting of one doubles and two singles matches. The singles matches will be best-of-three sets to four with a super tiebreaker in lieu of a third set.

"We are grateful for James Miller and The Star Group for sponsoring this year's event again after missing it last year because of COVID," head coach Nick Zieziula said. "With so many missed competition opportunities during the last year, this format will blend the individual tournament style with a little bit of the pressure of team matches," Zieziula added. 

The Bearcats' roster of six is highlighted by No. 1 Michael Pawlowicz, who is coming off a summer season that saw the junior go 15-3 over five Canadian Men's Open events. Pawlowicz and doubles partner Shourya Verma also return after finishing the 2020-21 campaign ranked No. 10 in the Northeast. Binghamton's other pairs will likely be junior Dan Pergel and sophomore Kyle Weekes, and junior Adi Ben-Ari teaming with graduate transfer Anshumat Srivastava, who comes to campus from Bryant.     

Play is set to get underway at 9 a.m. each day.