ST. BONAVENTURE, NY - The University at Buffalo men's tennis team began the spring 2003 campaign with a split of two matches after the first day of the St. Bonaventure 5-1 Duals. UB opened the meet with a 5-2 loss to Binghamton but rallied to take a 7-0 shutout over Rochester to complete the day. UB is now 2-2 in dual matches which includes last fall's results.

Randy Rocchio

The format of the matches is one doubles match, counting two points, followed by five singles matches, worth a point apiece. In the opener against Binghamton, UB picked up singles wins from Rannga Prahudha at number four and Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) at number five. Prahudha defeated Rodrigo Valle, 6-3, 6-4. Rocchio picked up a "double-bagel" victory, blanking Jordan Steinberg, 6-0, 6-0.

In the nightcap, the doubles duo of Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) and Rohan Raikar (Albany, NY/Albany) defeated Rochester's Brian Shenker and Ariel Almog, 6-1, 6-1, to open the match.

UB then swept all five singles matches, including a pair that went to 10-point tiebreakers. At number one, Fery Kasiman (Jakarta, Indonesia/ESI International Academy) defeated Anash Reddy, 7-5, 6-2. Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) scored a tiebreaker win, defeating Colin Ryan at number two, 6-4, 4-6, 10-5. Rocchio, at number three, knocked off Dan Williford, 6-2, 6-2. Prahudha, at number four, defeated Dan Schoenberr, 6-3, 6-4 and Ivan Chamdani rallied from a set down to defeat Josh Bruce-Black, 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.

The squad is back in action tomorrow with a pair of matches against Niagara and St. Bonaventure.