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Matt Kennedy

BUFFALO, NY - A third-set win by junior Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) gave the University at Buffalo a 4-3 victory over Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois Saturday afternoon at the Village Glen Tennis Center.

Kennedy scored a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Adam Ford at the fifth singles position to break a 3-3 tie and give the Bulls (6-8, 2-2 MAC) an important conference win. In the deciding set, Kennedy jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Ford then countered for three straight wins to close the gap to 5-4 before Kennedy put the match away, improving his singles record to 13-11 this season.

UB needed four singles wins to take the match. Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) scored a 6-2, 6-3 win over Erick Martinez at second singles. The win by Rockman was his 24th singles victory this season tying teammate Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) for most singles victories in a season. Zieziula had 24 singles wins last season.

Yules Hadisubroto

Other UB singles victories included Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) at number three and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) at number six. Hadisubroto knocked off Mark Tate 7-6 (4), 6-4 while Alant breezed past Diego Zegarra-Ballon, 6-2, 6-3.

Northern Illinois (9-7, 0-1 MAC) won the number one and four singles matches. Willy Gali downed Zieziula, 6-1, 6-3, at number one. Alex Friesen defeated Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) at number four, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

The Huskies opened the match by winning two of three doubles contests. The lone UB win was at number two as Alant and Kennedy combined to defeat Martinez and Tate, 8-6. Normally, UB's number three duo, Alant and Kennedy moved a rung up on the ladder to give the regular number two team of Rockman and Liederman a chance to stay fresh for difficult singles matches later in the day.

Gali and Friesen defeated Zieziula and Hadisubroto, 8-6, at first doubles and Ford and Zegarra-Ballon downed Joe Popielarczyk (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) and Mike Zappone (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury), 8-2, in the number three match.

UB steps out of the conference battles to face Niagara in its next match. The Bulls host the Purple Eagles on Wednesday, April 13 at 3:00 pm at the UB Tennis Center.

Buffalo 4, Northern Illinois 3

Doubles

1 Willy Gali/Alex Friesen (NIU) d. Nick Zieziula/Yules Hadisubroto (UB), 8-6

2 Albert Alant/Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Erick Martinez/Mark Tate (NIU), 8-6

3 Adam Ford/Diego Zegarra-Ballon (NIU) d. Joe Popielarczyk/Mike Zappone (UB), 8-2

Singles

1 Willy Gali (NIU) d. Nick Zieziula (UB), 6-1, 6-3

2 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Erick Martinez (NIU), 6-2, 6-3

3 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Mark Tate (NIU), 7-6 (4), 6-4

4 Alex Friesen (NIU) d. Josh Liederman (UB), 6-2, 7-6 (4)

5 Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Adam Ford (NIU), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

6 Albert Alant (UB) d. Diego Zegarra-Ballon (NIU), 6-2, 6-3