Bulls Rally Past Huskies, 4-3

Men's tennis team claims final three matches to knock off Northern Illinois

Mike Rockman

DeKALB, IL – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team scored its first Mid-American Conference victory of the season with a 4-3 upset win over Northern Illinois on Friday at the West Campus Courts. The Bulls (10-7 overall, 1-3 MAC) needed to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the singles competition, including a pair of three-set matches, to down the Huskes (4-11, 1-2 MAC).

UB opened with a doubles point victory as the number two squad of Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) defeated Alfonso Monroy and David Katz, 9-7. The UB duo trailed 4-1 before coming back to take eight of the next 11 games.

Albert Alant

UB's number three team of Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) got past Adam Ford and Diego Zegarra-Ballon, 8-4. The number one team of Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) and Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) fell to NIU's Brian Livingston and Alex Friesen by an 8-5 margin.

In the singles matches, UB picked up the needed three victories, but they weren't easy as the Bulls won the final three matches to come off the court. With NIU leading 3-1, Stane, playing number four, closed the gap with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Katz. Alant tied the match at 3-3 by winning the final two sets of the number six match with Monroy. After Monroy claimed a first-set tiebreaker victory, Alant tied the contest with a 6-2 second-set win and put the match into the win column with a six straight wins after trailing 3-0 to win the third set, 6-3.

Octavian Stane

Rockman, playing first singles, sealed the match with a three-set thriller over Livingston. Rockman dropped the opening set by a 6-4 count, but came back to win the final two sets, 6-1 and 7-5, to give the 4-3 win to the Bulls. Rockman trailed Livingston, 4-1 in the final set, before taking six of the next seven games to win his match. For the junior, it was his 64th career singles victory, tying him for second place on the UB charts with current women's assistant coach Fery Kasiman.

The numbers two, three and five matches went to the Huskies, all in straight sets. At number two, UB's Singh Panthlia was decisioned by Friesen, 6-0, 7-5. At number three, Hadisubroto fell to Ford, 6-0, 6-2. In the number five contest, Kennedy was defeated by Zegarra-Ballon, 6-2, 6-2.

The Bulls travel to Ft. Wayne, IN for Sunday's MAC finale against IPFW.

Buffalo 4, Northern Illinois 3

Doubles

1 Brian Livingston/Alex Friesen (NIU) d. Yules Hadisubroto/Octavian Stane (UB), 8-5

2 Nikesh Singh Panthlia/Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Alfonso Monroy/David Katz (NIU), 9-7

3 Mike Rockman/Albert Alant (UB) d. Alex Ford/Diego Zegarra-Ballon (NIU), 8-4

Order of finish: 3 1 2

Singles

1 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Brian Livingston (NIU), 4-6, 6-1, 7-5

2 Alex Friesen (NIU) d. Nikesh Singh Panthlia (UB), 6-0, 7-5

3 Adam Ford (NIU) d. Yules Hadisubroto (UB), 6-0, 6-2

4 Octavian Stane (UB) d. David Katz (NIU), 6-2, 6-3

5 Diego Zegarra-Ballon (NIU) d. Matt Kennedy (UB), 6-2, 6-2

6 Albert Alant (UB) d. Alfonso Monroy (NIU), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: 3 2 5 4 6 1

04/14/2006