Nick Zieziula

PITTSBURGH, PA – University at Buffalo men’s tennis player Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) became the school’s all-time leader in singles wins on Sunday morning as the Bulls defeated Duquesne, 7-0, in Pittsburgh. The Bulls improved to 4-5 overall in dual matches this season while the Dukes dropped to 2-5.

UB opened the match by taking two of the three doubles competitions to claim the point. Zieziula and Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) defeated Devon Peightal and Michael Ortega, 8-5, at number one. The number three team of Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) knocked off Robert Ojeda and Adam Townsend, 8-2, to secure the point. The lone blemish on the day was the number two team of Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) and Alejandro Galindo (Torreon, Mexico/Preparatoria Tec) falling to Paul Clough and Rodrigo Lacayo, 8-1.

The Bulls swept the six singles matches led by Zieziula’s straight sets win, 7-5, 6-3, over Peightal at number one. The win gave Zieziula his 65^th career singles victory, passing Fery Kasiman (1999-2003) who previously held the mark with 64 wins. Zieziula is now 65-56 for his four years with the Bulls.

UB players need three sets to take the number two, three and four matches. Rockman rallied from a first set loss to down Lacavo, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for his 21^st singles win of the season, leading the Bulls in the category this season. Hadisubroto and Ortega split the first two sets of the number three match before Hadisubroto sailed through the final set to claim the 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win. At number four, Alant also had to overcome a first set deficit before defeating Townsend, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Kennedy, at number five, rolled to straight-sets win over Clough, 6-1, 6-2. Galindo defeated Ojeda in straight sets, 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker), 6-2.

"This is a huge day for the Bulls," said head coach Russ Crispell. "Nick Zieziula came up big after close matches the previous two times against Devon Peightal. Nick was on his game today and knew what he had to do."

Travel delays that got the Bulls into Pittsburgh late Saturday night and a 5:30 am wakeup call Sunday morning did little to impair UB against a Duquesne team that had dropped a 5-2 decision to Bucknell the previous day.

"Working on very little sleep, I’m proud of these guys," said Crispell. "The individual matches were a lot closer than the final score would indicate. It was a good measuring stick for us."

The Bulls travel to Cornell on Friday for a dual match with the Big Red starting at 5:00 pm.

1 Nick Zieziula/Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Devon Peightal/Michael Ortega (DU), 8-5

2 Paul Clough/Rodrigo Lacavo (DU) d. Mike Rockman/Alejandro Galindo (UB), 8-1

3 Matt Kennedy/Albert Alant (UB) d. Robert Ojeda/Adam Townsend (DU), 8-2

1 Nick Zieziula (UB) d. Devon Peightal (DU), 7-5, 6-3

2 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Rodrigo Lacavo (DU), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2

3 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Michael Ortega (DU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-1

4 Albert Alant (UB) d. Adam Townsend (DU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

5 Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Paul Clough (DU), 6-1, 6-2

6 Alejandro Galindo (UB) d. Robert Ojeda (DU), 7-6 (3), 6-2