Men's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Close Home Sked With Split

The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team concluded its home schedule over the weekend with a split of its matches. The Bulls fell to defending Mid-American Conference champion Western Michigan, 6-1 on Saturday, before rallying for a dramatic 4-3 victory over a strong Binghamton squad on Sunday. The Bulls are now 5-14 overall and 0-3 in the MAC with three regular season matches and the conference tournament remaining, all away from home.

Mazzetto Salvages A Point Against Western Michigan

Marcelo Mazzetto

UB scored one singles victory against Western Michigan on Saturday, gaining the point in dramatic fashion. In the number two match, UB's Marcelo Mazzetto (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Carlos Magno) defeated Kazuya Komada in a super-tiebreaker. Mazzetto took the opening set, 7-5, then dropped the second set by an identical 7-5 score to set up the third-set super-tiebreaker. In the breaker, Mazzetto fell behind early and trailed Komada, 7-3, before rallying to take the next six points for a 9-7 lead in the 10-point contest. Komada then scored the next two points for a 9-9 tie. Mazzetto picked up the 10th point, but was still unable to put away Komada, who tied the breaker at 10-10 on the next serve. Finally, Mazzetto was able to secure the final two points and win the breaker, 12-10.

Dramatic Comeback Highlights Win Over Binghamton

Ezra Bernstein

Against Binghamton on Sunday, the Bulls won the final three points to close out the match with victories in the bottom three matches on the ladder, all in three sets. In the number four match, UB's Kirill Kolomyts (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155), battled through a nagging injury and third-set deficit to defeat Gregoire Berner, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Kolomyts trailed Berner, 3-0, in the third set before rallying to take six of the next seven games. UB tied the match at 3-3 with a victory by Juan Carlos Wynter (Puebla, Mexico/American School) in the number five match. Wynter netted a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win over Alex Dobrin. Freshman Ezra Bernstein (Buffalo, NY/City Honors) finished the comeback for the Bulls with a win in the sixth singles match. Bernstein needed to rally from a set down but bested Andreas Danielsson, 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles Point Goes UB’s Way

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

On Sunday, UB secured the doubles point in dramatic fashion with wins in the number one and two matches after the Bearcats won the number three contest. The number one duo of Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) needed to rally to get by Faisal Mohamed and Sebastian Dietz. The UB pair led 7-3 before Binghamton took the next five games for an 8-7 lead. UB held serve in the 16th game to force the tiebreaker. The Bulls closed out the match with a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker. A couple of minutes later, the doubles point was secured as the number two duo of Mazzetto and Wynter outlasted Arnav Jain and Berner, 8-6.

Alumni Return Home

UB’s weekend matches gave former Bulls’ tennis players a chance to see the current crop of Bulls and visit with old friends. Among the former Bulls in attendance over the weekend were Mike Zappone, Matt Kennedy, Joe Popielarczyk, Alejandro Galindo, Mike Rockman, Albert Alant, former head coach Russ Crispell and former assistant coach Andy Sachs.