UB Doubles Tandem Advances to Finals of Cornell Indoor Invite

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

ITHACA, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team completed the first two days of action at the Cornell Fall Indoor Invitational on Saturday with a doubles combination advancing to the championship match.

The UB tandem of Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) won their first three matches of the Flight A bracket on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the duo opened with a 9-7 decision over Gregory Marks and Ray Josephs of Marist and moved into the semifinal with an 8-5 win over Chris Albornoz and Charles Mullenger of Army. On Saturday, UB's tandem knocked off the Cornell duo of Weston Nichols and Bryant Yung by an 8-3 margin.

UB's other doubles combinations were not as fortunate. Also in the A bracket, Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) and Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) fell in their first round match to Chris Innes and Marshall Wheeler of Colgate, 8-2. In the Flight B bracket, UB's Eric Rothstein (Phoenixville, PA/Great Valley) was paired with Colgate's Michael Kodesch, however the makeshift duo fell to David Schneider and Danish Ali of Binghamton, 8-3.

In singles action, Hadisubroto won two matches before being eliminated in semifinals of Flight B. Hadisubroto opened play with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Alexander Nace of Fairleigh Dickinson. On Saturday, he moved into the semifinal round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Temple's Pavlos Stephanides. His streak was stopped late Saturday however with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Tongle Yu of Cornell.

Rockman scored an opening round win over Nathan Spunda of Temple in Flight A. He was eliminated in the quarterfinal round by Pierre Clavel of Binghamton, 6-4, 6-4.

Three players dropped their opening matches but followed with some success in the consolation rounds. Stane, playing in Flight B, opened with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Alex Dobrin of Binghamton. In the consolation bracket, Stane picked up a pair of wins, downing Justin Seow of Fairleigh Dickinson, 8-5, and Philip Gegenheimer of Temple by default. He will play in the consolation finals on Sunday against Colgate's Wheeler.

Singh Panthlia lost his opening round match in Flight A to Pedro Genovese of Marist, 6-3, 6-4. He then took his first consolation match over Albornoz of Army, 8-4, but dropped the consolation semifinal to Priit Gross of Fairleigh Dickinson, 8-6. Rothstein, playing in the Flight C competition, fell 6-3, 6-4 to Yung of Cornell. Rothstein then defeated Michael Shea of Colgate in his first consolation match, 8-6, before losing 8-6 to Gonzalo De Villa of Temple in his next match.

Competition concludes with championship and consolation final matches on Sunday.