Men's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Go Long, But Fall Short to Rockets

The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team finished the regular season on Sunday afternoon with a marathon match lasting more than five hours, but eventually fell to Toledo, 5-2, at Toledo’s Varsity Courts. The Bulls end the regular season with an 8-12 mark and 2-3 in MAC play, giving UB the fourth seed for the upcoming Mid-American Conference Championships.

So Close in Doubles

Octavian Stane

With the Bulls and Rockets fighting for the number three seed in the MAC Championships, starting Thursday in Fort Wayne, IN, it turned into a must-win match for both clubs. The Bulls found themselves down 1-0 after the doubles point, but had a chance to gain the point. With the teams splitting the number two and three matches, the number one match went into a tiebreaker. However, UB’s number one tandem of Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) and Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) couldn’t nail down the win, falling 7-5 in the tiebreaker to Brian Rager and Travis Curran. UB’s lone doubles win was in the number two match as Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) and Kirill Kolomytes (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155) scored an 8-3 win over Keith Moran and Jared Miller. The third pair of Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) fell, 9-7, to Chris Clark and Jay Miller.

Three-Setters Are the Order of the Day for Singles

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

Of the six singles matches on Sunday, four were played beyond two sets with two needing full third sets and the other two going to super-tiebreakers after Toledo had clinched the match. UB scored two of the wins including Singh Panthlia notching his 20th singles win of the season. Singh Panthlia defeated Chris Clark, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1, in the number two match. Stane scored a super-tiebreaker win over Travis Curran with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (12-10) decision in the number six match. Hadisubroto was forced to a third set by Keith Moran, but fell, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the number four contest. Rockman went to a super-tiebreaker in his match against Jared Miller after splitting 7-5 decisions in the opening two sets. Rockman lost the super-tiebreaker 10-6.

MAC Tournament Begins on Thursday for Bulls

With the loss to Toledo, the Bulls became the number four seed in the MAC Championships. UB will face Northern Illinois (9-11, 1-4 MAC) on Thursday in one of two first round matches at 2:00 pm. Toledo (13-12, 3-2 MAC) faces host IPFW (7-18, 0-5 MAC) in the other opening match, starting at 10:00 am. If the Bulls get past the Huskies, who they defeated on April 14, they would meet regular season victor Western Michigan (16-7, 5-0 MAC), the defending tournament champions, in the semifinals. Ball State (10-13, 4-1 MAC) will meet the winner of the Toledo/IPFW match in Friday’s second semifinal.