Nick Zieziula

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought match Saturday afternoon to Northern Illinois, 7-0, at the Village Glen Tennis Center. With the loss, the Bulls fall to 11-10 overall and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while the Huskies improve to 10-7, 1-0.

The day didn't turn out to be a total loss for the Bulls as UB did salvage one doubles victory, but couldn't nail down the number two match to earn the doubles point. The number one team of Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) and Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) won an emotional 8-5 decision over Aaron Forsberg and Raymond van Wasbeek. Meanwhile, UB's third doubles tandem of Fery Kasiman (Jakarta, Indonesia/ESI International Academy) and Rohan Raikar (Albany, NY/Albany) fell to Willy Gali and Stephen Guntly, 8-1. The Bulls were unable to nail down the doubles point, however, as Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) and Rannga Prayudha (Jakarta, Indonesia/ESI International Academy) lost to Juan Pablo Barriga and Erick Martinez by an 8- 6 margin. The Bulls led the match 6-5 before dropping the final three games.

Fery Kasiman

In singles action, UB's number one player Kasiman battled severe leg cramps in his three-set loss to van Wasbeek. Kasiman dropped the first set, 7-6, in a 7-0 tiebreaker before rallying to take the second set, 6-2, and force a third set. With both players near exhaustion and the match needing to be stopped to ease Kasiman's cramps, van Wasbeek was able to down Kasiman, 6-3, to end the day.

Other singles matches included Rocchio falling to Barriga, 6-4, 6-1, at number two. Liederman was defeated by an identical, 6-4, 6-1 count by Martinez at number three. Zieziula fell to Gali, ranked 116th among collegiate singles players in the country, 6-3, 6-2, at number four. Prayhudha was defeated at number five by Forsberg, 6-3, 7-6 (4) and Raikar fell to Guntly, 6-3, 6-2, at number six.

The Bulls return to action with a matchup against Toledo next Saturday at the University Tennis Center to complete their MAC schedule.

Northern Illinois 7, Buffalo 0

Singles

1 Raymond van Wasbeek (NIU) d. Fery Kasiman (UB), 7-6 (0), 2-6, 6-3

2 Juan Pablo Barriga (NIU) d. Randy Rocchio (UB), 6-4, 6-1

3 Erick Martinez (NIU) d. Josh Liederman (UB), 6-4, 6-1

4 Willy Gali (NIU) d. Nick Zieziula (UB), 6-3, 6-2

5 Aaron Forsberg (NIU) d. Rannga Prayudha (UB), 6-3, 7-6 (4)

6 Stephen Guntly (NIU) d. Rohan Raikar (UB), 6-3, 6-2

Doubles

1 Randy Rocchio/Nick Zieziula (UB) d. Aaron Forsberg/Raymond van Wasbeek, 8-5

2 Juan Pablo Barriga/Erick Martinez (NIU) d. Josh Liederman/Rannga Prayudha (UB), 8-6

3 Willy Gali/Stephen Guntly (NIU) d. Fery Kasiman/Rohan Raikar (UB), 8-1