Men's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Slip in MAC Opener

The University at Buffalo men's tennis team opened the Mid-American Conference schedule with a 5-2 loss to Ball State at the Village Glen Tennis Center on Friday, March 23. The Bulls (4-10, 0-1 MAC) played the Cardinals close throughout the evening with their two singles wins coming in three-set thrillers after UB dropped the opening set in both matches.

Singh Panthlia Wins 15th

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

In the number two match against Ball State, junior Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) dropped his opening set to Aaron Phillips in a 7-4 tiebreaker, but rallied to take the final two sets. Singh Panthlia won the second set, 6-4, and then completed the comeback with a 6-3 win in the third set. The match was puncuated by Singh Panthlia’s fist-pumping on nearly every winner that he got past Phillips. The victory was his team-leading 15th singles win this season, breaking a tie with senior Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea).

Kolomytes Wins in Exciting Fashion

At number three, freshman Kirill Kolomytes (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155) scored a three-set victory that included tiebreakers in two of the sets. Kolomytes fell in a 7-4 tiebreaker to Jose Perdomo in the first set, then tied the match with a 6-4 win in the second set. In the third set, Kolomytes led 5-2 and had to rally to force another tiebreaker. Kolomytes then scored a 7-5 victory in the tiebreaker. Five of Kolomytes’ 11 matches this season have gone to third sets.

Can’t Touch This

Ball State swept the doubles contests but the most exciting match turned out to be the number one contest won by Joe Epkey and Perdomo over Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) and Kolomytes in a 9-7 tiebreaker. Of the 16 service games prior to the tiebreaker, none of the four players was broken on his service. In fact, neither squad led by more than one point in the tiebreaker until the final point.