Men's Tennis Weekly Release

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Bulls Bested by Ball State

The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision to visiting Ball State in Mid-American Conference action at the South Towns Tennis Center. The Bulls (7-9, 1-3 MAC) won the doubles point but fell in the six singles matches. The match was played in Orchard Park due to weather conditions and court availability.

Doubles Carries the Way

Guilherme Smaniotto

The Bulls scored the opening doubles point for the first time in eight matches with a dramatic finish. After the Cardinals scored a win on court two, the Bulls came through with a victory as the number one duo of Marcelo Mazzetto and Kirill Kolomyts scored an 8-3 win over Eduardo Pavia and Jorge Rodriguez. The winning point was scored when Kolomyts had to chase a lob deep into his own end and send a lob return that fell just inside the baseline and behind the BSU duo. The win was the 14th overall and 10th in dual meet play for the UB tandem. The Bulls clinched the point as the third doubles team of Guilherme Smaniotto and Alex Kalinin rallied from a 6-5 deficit to the BSU duo of Shaun Bussert and Derek Carpenter to take the match, 9-7. It was the first time that Smaniotto and Kalinin had been paired together this season.

Hanging Tough in Singles

Alex Kalinin

Although the Bulls dropped the six singles contests, five in straight sets, UB played strong throughout the lineup. Four of the matches went to 6-4 decisions in the first set. Mazzetto pushed Perdomo to a third set after winning the second set, 6-4. Perdomo downed Mazzetto, 6-1, in the deciding set. Kolomyts lost a hard-fought match with a 7-4 decision in the second-set tiebreaker against Pavia. Kalinin and Kristof Custers also opened with 6-4 losses in their first sets at numbers three and four, respectively. Octavian Stane took Rodriguez to the limit, falling in the final set, 7-5.

Conference Call

With the MAC Championships coming to Buffalo at the end of the month, here’s a closer look at the league standings through last weekend’s matches. Both Western Michigan and Ball State are 3-0 in league play and will meet on Sautrday to determine the league leader. UB stands in fifth place among the six schools with a 1-3 record. The Bulls close out the MAC schedule with an Easter Sunday (April 12) matchup with Northern Illinois at 10:00 am. NIU and Toledo are tied for third at 1-1 and Chicago State is 0-4 in sixth place.