Bulls Complete Impressive Run at Princeton Invite

Alex Kalinin reaches singles final

Alex Kalinin

PRINCETON, NJ – The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team took four of its top players to the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational and finished the weekend with some impressive results.

The tournament, which also included teams from Penn State, Binghamton, St. John’s and Ivy League members Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Yale and Princeton, consisted of five singles flights and two doubles flights.

Among the top performances for the Bulls was sophomore Alex Kalinin as he reached the championship round of the E singles. Kalinin opened play with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Binghamton’s Andreas Danielsson and then picked up a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Princeton’s Parker Preyer in the second round. Kalinin advanced to the championship match with his 6-4, 6-3 win over Jeff Karsh of Penn. However, Kalinin’s run was stopped on Sunday as he fell in the championship match to Matt Schimmel of Yale, 6-2, 6-3.

In the A singles, sophomore Wojciech Starakiewicz (Warsaw, Poland/Miguel de Cervantes) also had a strong run. Starakiewicz opened with an easy 6-0, 6-1 win over Ravi Yegya-Raman of Princeton. On Saturday, Starakiewicz went three sets in his two matches. In the early match, he disposed of the number-one seed in the flight, Columbia’s Mihal Nichifor, rallying from a first-set defeat to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Starakiewicz was eliminated by Eugen Brazdil of Penn, again in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, late on Saturday.

After a first-round loss, junior Marcelo Mazzetto reached the consolation final in the B singles bracket. Mazzetto fell to Jonathan Fife of Cornell in his opener, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Mazzetto moved his way through the back half of the bracket with a walkover win against Princeton’s Ryan Kim and a straight-sets win over Jason Lin of Penn. On Sunday, Mazzetto lost to Marc Powers of Yale, 6-2, 6-0.

The UB doubles duos also picked up opening round wins but fell in their next matches. Starakiewicz and Mazzetto scored an 8-6 win over Kim and Ilya Trubov of Princeton before being eliminated by a Cornell duo. Kalinin and Kirill Kolomyts scored a tiebreaker win over John Huang and Powers of Yale but lost to a St. John’s pair in the quarterfinals.

Head coach Lee Nickell was pleased with his team’s performance over the weekend. “Our goal was to compete with some of the best players in the region,” he said. “This tournament gave us that opportunity and I was proud of our fight. We know what we have to work on and will spend the next two weeks working hard to prepare for Dartmouth.”

The Bulls begin play at the Dartmouth Invitational on October 2.

Singles results
A Flight
Wojciech Starakiewicz (UB) d. Ravi Yegya-Raman (Princeton), 6-0, 6-1
Starakiewicz (UB) d. Mihal Nichifor (Columbia), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
Eugen Brazdil (Penn) d. Starakiewicz (UB), 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
B Flight
Jonathan Fife (Cornell) d. Marcelo Mazzetto (UB), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Mazzetto (UB) d. Ryan Kim (Princeton), walkover
Mazzetto (UB) d. Jason Lin (Penn), 6-2, 6-3
Marc Powers (Yale) d. Mazzetto (UB), 6-2, 6-0
C Flight
Justen Roth (Penn) d. Kirill Kolomyts (UB), 6-0, 6-2
Guillaume St.-Maurice (Penn St.) d. Kolomyts (UB), 6-3, 6-1
D Flight
No entries
E Flight
Alex Kalinin (UB) d. Andreas Danielsson (Binghamton), 6-1, 6-2
Kalinin (UB) d. Parker Preyer (Princeton), 6-4, 6-4
Kalinin (UB) d. Jeff Karsh (Penn), 6-4, 6-3
Matt Schimmel (Yale) d. Kalinin (UB), 6-2, 6-3

Doubles results
A Flight
Wojciech Starakiewicz/Marcelo Mazzetto (UB) d. Ryan Kim/Ilya Trubov (Princeton), 8-6
Mirza Kils/Jonathan Jaklitsch (Cornell) d. Starakiewicz/Mazzetto (UB), 8-4
B Flight
Alex Kalinin/Kirill Kolomyts (UB) d. John Huang/Marc Powers (Yale), 9-8 (5)
Derek Wallensteen/Michael Lampa (St. John’s) d. Kalinin/Kolomyts (UB), 8-6