Nick Zieziula

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo men's tennis finished the regular season with a 5-2 Mid-American Conference win over IPFW on Saturday afternoon at the UB Tennis Center. The Bulls secure third place in the league standings as they head into the conference tournament in two weeks. UB is now 8-8 overall, 3-2 MAC, and winners of three straight contests. IPFW, a member of the MAC for men's tennis only, is 7-17 and 0-4.

UB won the match with five singles victories after dropping the opening doubles point. At first singles, senior Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis), playing in his final home match, rolled to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Landry Nzudie. Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) picked up a shortened victory at second singles over Nabil Mourad Filho. Rockman won the first set, 6-1, and led the second, 3-1, before Mourad Filho was forced to retire. Third singles player Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) closed out his match with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Carlos Gonzalez. Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale), at number five, fell behind Sam Rocke, 3-0, in the first set, before winning the next 12 games to take the 6-3, 6-0 win. Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) took the sixth singles match with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Daniel Jackson.

Matt Kennedy

The lone singles loss for the Bulls was at number four. UB's Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) played a grueling pair of sets, falling in a second-set tiebreaker to Ian Leonhardt, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

IPFW clinched the doubles point with wins in the numbers two and three matches. Gonzalez and Leonhardt rallied to come back for an 8-6 win at number two over Rockman and Liederman. Rocke and Jackson defeated Alant and Kennedy, 8-6, at number three. UB took the first doubles match as Zieziula and Hadisubroto sailed to an 8-3 win over Nzudie and Mourad Filho.

The teams also played an exhibition doubles match with their number four combos. IPFW's Matt Muns and Nathan Jones defeated UB's Joe Popielarczyk (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) and Mike Zappone (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury), 8-5.

Prior to the match, UB honored seniors Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East), Zieziula and Liederman for their contributions to the program.

The Bulls will wait to find out who they will face in the first round of the Mid-American Conference. The single-elimination tournament starts on April 28 in Kalamazoo, MI.

Buffalo 5, IPFW 2

Doubles

1 Nick Zieziula/Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Landry Nzudie/Nabil Mourad Filho (IPFW), 8-3

2 Carlos Gonzalez/Ian Leonhardt (IPFW) d. Mike Rockman/Josh Liederman (UB), 8-6

3 Sam Rocke/Daniel Jackson (IPFW) d. Albert Alant/Matt Kennedy (UB), 8-6

E Matt Muns/Nathan Jones (IPFW) d. Joe Popielarczyk/Mike Zappone (UB), 8-5

Singles

1 Nick Zieziula (UB) d. Landry Nzudie (IPFW), 6-0, 6-3

2 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Nabil Mourad Filho (IPFW), 6-1, 3-1 ret.

3 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Carlos Gonzalez (IPFW), 7-6 (6), 6-3

4 Ian Leonhardt (IPFW) d. Josh Liederman (UB), 6-4, 7-6 (5)

5 Matt Kennedy (UB) d. Sam Rocke (UB), 6-3, 6-0

6 Albert Alant (UB) d. Daniel Jackson (IPFW), 6-2, 6-2