Two men’s tennis players earn preseason national rankings

For the first time in program history, the Binghamton men’s tennis team has two nationally ranked players. Seniors Sven Vloedgraven (No. 84) and Arnav Jain (No. 116) both appear in the ITA Preseason National Rankings.

Vloedgraven finished his junior season ranked No. 115 and he will begin his senior campaign 31 spots higher. His position at No. 84 is the highest of any Binghamton player in school history. Last year, Vloedgraven went 38-8, won the ITA Northeast Regional, was the top-ranked player in the region and earned a berth to the NCAA Championship. He was the America East Player of the Year and also was the conference’s Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in all sports.

Because of his outstanding 2009-10 season, Vloedgraven has been invited to the ITA Men’s All-American Championship, Oct. 2-10, at the University of Tulsa. The elite event begins with six rounds of prequalifying and qualifying matches, though Vloedgraven has already been placed in the main draw.

Jain went a team-best 35-3 overall last year, and capped his remarkable season with a victory at fifth singles in Binghamton’s 4-1 NCAA loss to Georgia Tech. He rolled to a 7-6, 6-0 victory to cap an undefeated dual meet season. Jain, the team co-MVP with Vloedgraven, finished with a perfect 24-0 dual record and a team-best 35-3 overall mark. He joined former Division III standout Greg Munoz (17-0 in 1988-89) as the only players in the program’s 64-year history to produce an undefeated dual season.

“It’s a great achievement for our program to have two guys in the national rankings,” head coach Adam Cohen said. “Both of these guys played exceptionally well last season and it’s nice to seem them rewarded for their hard work.”

The first ITA team ranking will be released on Jan. 4. The Bearcats, 25-2 last year, were ranked as high as No. 43 in the country before receiving a year-end position of No. 49. Binghamton returns five of its six starting singles players from that record-breaking 2009-10 team.

The team eased into the 2010-11 campaign with four players in action at the non-scoring Virginia Classic in Charlottesville, Va., on Sept. 10-11.

Junior Gilbert Wong had the most success of the four singles players. Wong won two matches in the “White” singles bracket to place sixth. Senior Arnav Jain and junior Alexandre Haggai each placed seventh after splitting four matches in their respective draws.

Sophomore Bastian Bornkessel also competed in singles, winning one match in his flight.

In doubles, Jain and Haggai won two of three matches in the “Orange” bracket, including a 9-8 triumph over Cornell’s top duo. Wong and Bornkessel also won two of three matches in their draw.