Randy Rocchio

MUNCIE, IN - The University at Buffalo scored its first-ever Mid-American Conference Tournament victory with a 4-1 win over fifth-seed Toledo Thursday afternoon in Muncie, IN. The match was moved to the indoor venue, the Muncie YMCA, after rain started to fall before play began. The Bulls (9-11), seeded fourth in the six-team tournament, advance to face top-seed Western Michigan tomorrow at 10:00 am.

The Bulls opened the match by capturing two of the three doubles competitions to take a 1-0 lead. At first doubles, the UB duo of Randy Rocchio (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) and Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) breezed past Kahlid Al Nabhani and Travis Curran, 8-5. UB secured the point at second doubles as Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) and Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) knocked off Freddy Gomez and Cristobal Toral. UB's number three duo, Josh Liederman (Queens Village, NY/Benjamin Cardozo) and Rangga Prayudha (Jakarta, Indonesia/ESI International Academy/Ventura College) fell to Brian Rager and Todd Wojtkowski, 8-5.

UB clinched the match with three singles victories including Rocchio's 6-4, 7-5 win at number one over Al Nabhani. Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornhill) and Hadisubroto also took singles matches. Rockman, at number three, downed Wojtkowski, 6-3, 6-2. Hadisubroto, playing at number six, downed Rager, 6-0, 6-1. Liederman, at number four, lost his match to Toral, 6-1, 6-0.

Play was stopped with two matches still in progress. Prayudha led Curran, 7-6, 1-2 at number five and Zieziula trailed Gomez, 7-6, 2-1, in the number two match. In tournament play, once a team records the clinching fourth point all remaining matches are stopped.

Since joining the MAC, the Bulls had been ousted in their first match of the last five league tournaments, including a 4-0 shutout loss to Toledo in last season's tourney opener.

Buffalo 4, Toledo 1

Doubles

1 Randy Rocchio/Nick Zieziula (UB) d. Khalid Al Nabhani/Travis Curran (UT), 8-3

2 Albert Alant/Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Freddy Gomez/Cristobal Toral (UT), 8-6

3 Brian Rager/Todd Wojtkowski (UT) d. Josh Liederman/Rangga Prayudha (UB), 8-5

Singles

1 Randy Rocchio (UB) d. Khalid Al Nabhani (UT), 6-4, 7-5

2 Freddy Gomez (UT) vs. Nick Zieziula (UB), 7-6, 2-1 DNF

3 Mike Rockman (UB) d. Todd Wojtkowski (UT), 6-3, 6-2

4 Cristobal Toral (UT) d. Josh Liederman (UB), 6-1, 6-0

5 Rangga Prayudha (UB) vs. Travis Curran (UT), 7-6, 1-2 DNF

6 Yules Hadisubroto (UB) d. Brian Rager (UT), 6-0, 6-1