Men's Tennis Drops Close Decision to Stony Brook

Mike Rockman

ITHACA, NY – The University at Buffalo's men's tennis team opened its two-match slate in Ithaca with a neutral-site 4-3 loss to SUNY-rival Stony Brook on Saturday. The Bulls fell to 4-5 with the loss while the Seawolves moved to 5-3. The match was played at Cornell University's Reis Tennis Center.

The Bulls opened play by snagging the doubles point with victories in the number two and three matches. The number two team of Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) clinched the point with an 8-6 win over Youssef Fassi-Fehri and Alex Markovich. UB's number three team of Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) picked up an 8-5 win over Ilan Shvartz and Jon Epstein.

The Bulls grabbed just a pair of singles victories against the Seawolves. Rockman, at number two, defeated Nihal Advani, 6-3, 6-1. At number four, Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) needed three sets to down Shvartz, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

The deciding match was at number three as UB's Kirill Kolomytes (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155) fought Fassi-Fehri for three sets. Kolomytes won the opening set, 7-5, but lost in a second-set tiebreaker to set up the deciding final set. In the third set, Fassi-Fehri was able to break Kolomytes and score a 6-2 decision.

The Bulls remain in Ithaca tomorrow and will face Cornell beginning at 9:00 am.

Stony Brook 4, Buffalo 3

Doubles

1 Quirijn Van Veen/Nihal Advani (SB) d. Yules Hadisubroto/Kirill Kolomytes (UB), 8-3

2 Nikesh Singh Panthlia/Octavian Stane (UB) d. Youssef Fassi-Fehri/Alex Markovich (SB), 8-6

3 Mike Rockman/Albert Alant (UB) d. Ilan Shvartz/Jon Epstein (SB), 8-5

Order of finish: 1 3 2

Singles

1 Quirijn Van Venn (SB) d. Nikesh Singh Panthlia (UB), 6-4, 7-6 (5)

2 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Nihal Advani (SB), 6-3, 6-1

3 Youssef Fassi-Fehri (SB) d. Kirill Kolomytes (UB), 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2

4 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Ilan Shvartz (SB), 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4

5 Jon Epstein (SB) d. Octavian Stane (UB), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4

6 Alex Markovich (SB) d. Albert Alant (UB), 6-0, 6-1

Order of finish: 6 5 4 1 2 3