Bulls Put Up Strong Fight But Fall to Toledo, 6-1

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team put up a strong effort forcing four of the six singles matches and two of the three doubles contests into extra play but fell short against visiting Toledo, 6-1, in the Mid-American Conference opener for both squads.

The Bulls (3-7, 0-1 MAC) forced a pair of doubles matches into tiebreakers but Toledo (8-6, 1-0 MAC) swept the three contests to open with a 1-0 edge. The Bulls nearly pulled out the number one match as the tandem of Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Marcelo Mazzetto (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Carlos Magno) rallied from a 7-2 deficit against Toledo's Jared Miller and Nutthavit Likitkumchorn to tie the match at 7-7 before succumbing in a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was played when the score reached 7-7 since Toledo had already won the point.

In singles play, four of the six matches went to third sets as the Bulls fought for every point. UB's lone victory came in a straight-sets win by Singh Panthlia, 6-3, 6-3, over Chris Clark.

The Bulls picked up first-set wins in three of the three-set matches, including a 10-8 tiebreaker win by Mazzetto at first singles, but could not take any of the matches. Mazzetto dropped a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 decision to Jared Miller. UB's Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside), playing at number four, rallied after a 6-0 first-set loss to Tyler Sorkin to force the third set after scoring a 6-4 win in the second. Stane was unable to hold onto the momentum, however, and lost 6-4 in final set.

Two other matches went the distance as Toledo's Sven Burus defeated UB's Kirill Kolomytes (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2, at number three and Jay Miller downed Juan Carlos Wynter (Puebla, Mexico/American School), at number six, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

The Bulls return to the courts on Friday, March 7 at DePaul to begin a weekend roadtrip to Chicago and Milwaukee that will see the squad play four matches in three days.

Toledo 6, Buffalo 1

Doubles

1 Jared Miller/Nutthavit Likitkumchorn (UT) d. Nikesh Singh Panthlia/Marcelo Mazzetto (UB), 8-7 (4)

2 Sven Burus/Chris Clark (UT) d. Kirill Kolomytes/Juan Carlos Wynter (UB), 9-8 (3)

3 Jay Miller/Tyler Sorkin (UT) d. Alexis Lluis/Octavian Stane (UB), 8-6

Order of finish: 3 2 1

Singles

1 Jared Miller (UT) d. Marcelo Mazzetto (UB), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2

2 Nikesh Singh Panthlia (UB) d. Chris Clark (UT), 6-3, 6-3

3 Sven Burus (UT) d. Kirill Kolomytes (UB), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2

4 Tyler Sorkin (UT) d. Octavian Stane (UB), 6-0, 4-6, 6-4

5 Nutthavit Likitkumchorn (UT) d. Alexis Lluis (UB), 6-0, 6-0

6 Jay Miller (UT) d. Juan Carlos Wynter (UB), 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Order of finish: 5 2 6 3 4 1