In preparation for the NCAA women’s tennis tournament, the CUNY Athletic Champion Baruch College Bearcats played a pair of games against the Kean University Cougars and the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons, both resulting in a loss.

The Bearcats started their preparations in Union, NJ, to play the Cougars on April 11, with the Cougars defeating the Bearcats 6-3.

The Bearcats lost the doubles matchups 1-2, with CUNYAC Player of the Year Ava Deguzman and First-Team All Star Esther Benjamin capturing the Bearcats’ sole win in the doubles matches by an 8-4 margin. First-Team All Star Lauren Kraker and Erica Sheludenko lost the No. 2 match 8-4, while Kelly Contreras and Brianna Joy Augustin lost the No. 3 match 8-2.

The Bearcats won the No. 1 and No. 5 singles matches, led by Deguzman and Arielle Rabizadeh.

Deguzman won the No. 1 singles match 5-0 after only one set due to her opponent retiring mid-match. Rabizadeh won the No. 5 singles match in two sets, capturing the first 7-5 and the latter 6-4.

However, the Bearcats couldn’t keep up the rest of the way, with Kraker losing the No. 2 match in two sets, 6-2 in the former and 4-6 in the latter, and Contreras losing the No. 6 matchup 6-1 in two sets as well, 6-1 in the former and 6-2 in the latter.

The No. 3 singles match saw Benjamin put up a competitive fight in a heartbreaker three- set loss , losing the first 4-6, winning the second 6-3 but losing the third 7-6 following a 10-8 tiebreaker defeat.

The No. 4 matchup was also competitive but saw Sheludenko lose in three sets, losing the first and third 5-7 and 6-1, respectively, but capturing the second 6-3.

The Bearcats were less competitive against the Red Dragons on April 18, where they lost 8-1 in Oneonta.

The women fell in all three doubles matches, with Deguzman and Benjamin losing 8-4 in the No. 1 match, Second-Team All Star Regina Kelley and Sheludenko losing the No. 2 matchup 8-3 and Contreras and Augustin losing the No. 3 matchup 8-0.

Deguzman came through with the Bearcats’ only win of the afternoon in the No. 1 singles matchup, winning in three sets. She captured the first set 6-3, lost the second 4-6 and won the third 10-4.

The rest of the matchups were decided in two sets..

Kraker lost the No. 2 singles matches 6-1 and 6-2, respectively, while Benjamin lost the No. 3 match 7-5 and 6-3, respectively.

Kelley lost the No. 4 matchup 6-4 and 6-1, Sheludenko lost the No. 5 matchup 7-5 and 6-2 and Contreras lost the No. 6 matchup 6-2 and 6-0.

The Bearcats look to continue practicing for the NCAA tournament taking place from  May 12-15. Their opponent will be announced on May 9.