Mike Rockman

BUFFALO, NY - After spotting Niagara the opening doubles point of the match, the University at Buffalo rolled through the singles portion of the contest with six wins to defeat the Purple Eagles, 6-1, in non-conference men's tennis action at the UB Tennis Center. The Bulls, winners of three of their last four matches, improve to 7-8 while Niagara falls to 6-10.

UB sophomore Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) became UB's single season victories leader with his 25th win of the year. Rockman, playing second singles, rolled past Erick Garcia, 6-0, 6-4, to surpass Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis), who posted 24 wins last season. Rockman also tied senior Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) for fourth place on the career wins list in UB's Division I history at 45. Rockman is 25-12 this season, including a 12-6 mark in dual matches, all at the number two slot.

Nick Zieziula

Zieziula needed a super-tiebreaker to prevail over Walter Garcia. Zieziula won the first set, 6-4, and then forced a second-set tiebreaker. Garcia won that tiebreaker, 9-7, to knot the match at a set apiece. In the super-tiebreaker, Zieziula scored a 10-3 win to claim the match.

The rest of UB's lineup easily won in straight sets with little trouble. At number three, Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) defeated Justin McConkey, 6-3, 6-0. Number four Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) knocked off Alex Abji, 6-3, 6-0. Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) breezed by Joe Dante, 6-1, 6-1, at number five. Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) scored a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win over Greg Kaufman at number six.

Niagara claimed the doubles point after the teams had split the first two of the three contests. In the number three match, Dave Rueter and Kaufman defeated Joe Popielarczyk (Bufalo, NY/McKinley) and Mike Zappone (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury), 9-7. At number two, Niagara's Walter Garcia and Abji downed Alant and Kennedy, 8-3. UB took the number one match as Zieziula and Hadisubroto rallied past Erick Garcia and McConkey, 8-4. The UB duo won the final five games of the match to claim the win.

The Bulls conclude the regular season on Saturday with a Mid-American Conference match against IPFW, starting at 12:30 pm. The team will honor its three seniors, Zieziula, Rocchio and Liederman, prior to the contest.

Buffalo 6, Niagara 1

Doubles

1 Nick Zieziula/Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Erick Garcia/Justin McConkey (NU), 8-4

2 Walter Garcia/Alex Abji (NU) d. Albert Alant/Matt Kennedy (UB), 8-3

3 Dave Rueter/Greg Kaufman (NU) d. Joe Popielarczyk/Mike Zappone (UB), 9-7

Singles

1 Nick Zieziula (UB) d. Walter Garcia (NU), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 1-0 (10-3)

2 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Erick Garcia (NU), 6-0, 6-4

3 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Justin McConkey (NU), 6-3, 6-0

4 Josh Liederman (UB) d. Alex Abji (NU), 6-3, 6-0

5 Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Joe Dante (NU), 6-1, 6-1

6 Albert Alant (UB) d. Greg Kaufman (NU), 6-1, 6-0