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MILWAUKEE, WI - The University at Buffalo sent three players to the prestigious Milwaukee Tennis Classic where they posted strong results throughout the competition which concluded on Saturday. Sophomores Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East), Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) and Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) saw action in the 64-player men's singles draw while Rocchio and Zieziula combined in the 32-team doubles competition where they reached the quarterfinals for the second consecutive season.

Randy Rocchio

Rocchio and Zieziula opened doubles play with an 8-4 victory over Jon Roszak of Columbia and Erik Zipp of Bryant College. UB's top team then moved into the round of 16, defeating the sixth-seeded squad in the competition, Ohio State's Conor Casey and Brenton Contini, by an 8-3 margin. The duo was then defeated in the quarterfinal round by Northern Illinois' Aaron Forsberg and Erick Martinez.

Nick Zieziula

In the open doubles competition, several individuals from different colleges were paired with one another while other teams competed with their regular partners. This was the case for the Bulls as Liederman paired with Toledo's Zach Barden as the duo dropped an 8-2 decision to Ben Davis of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Marko Despot of Wichita State.

Zieziula also registered a singles victory in the tournament with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Michigan's Vinny Gossain. He then moved the round of 32 where he faced the tournament's second seed Rajeev Ram of Illinois. Ram, a freshman with the Illini, has won ATP Futures Circuit events in singles and doubles, has been a Boys finalist at Wimbledon in 2002 and played in the main draw of the U.S. Open Men's Doubles the past two years. Zieziula's hopes for a singles title were dashed by Ram in the match as the UB sophomore dropped a 6-0, 6-0 decision.

Josh Liederman

Also in singles play, Liederman was defeated by Davis, 6-1, 6-1 and Rocchio fell to Toledo's Ross Wilson, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. Both players moved to the consolation round where Rocchio defeated Alec Smyczek of Hales Corner, WI, 7-6, 6-1. Rocchio was then eliminated in his third-round match by Western Michigan's Mike Findling, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. Liederman was defeated in his first-round consolation match, 6-0, 6-1, by Alex Bucewicz of Memphis.

The full squad returns to the courts February 1 and 2 at the St. Bonaventure Duals.