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Singh Panthlia Wins Cornell Fall Invite Title

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

ITHACA, NY – The University at Buffalo’s men’s tennis team picked up a singles title on Sunday as play concluded at the Cornell Indoor Fall Invitational at the Reis Tennis Center. There was no team scoring at the three-day tournament that included 10 teams.

Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) won the B flight singles championship on Sunday as UB was guaranteed of at least one champion. He defeated teammate Marcelo Mazzetto (Mexico City, Mexico/Colegio Carlos Magno), 6-1, 6-4, in Sunday’s final. The combination of Singh Panthlia and Kirill Kolomytes (Moscow, Russia/Moscow High School 155) fell in the A flight double championships on Sunday.

Singh Panthlia rolled through the B flight with four wins. All three of Singh Panthlia’s wins prior to the championship match came in three-set thrillers including a pair of third-set tiebreakers in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds after dropping the first set in both matches. Singh Panthlia defeated Cornell’s Bryan Yung, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the quarters to set up a semifinal showdown with Andy Gauthier, also of Cornell. In the match against Gauthier, Singh Panthlia scored a near-identical win with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) decision to move into the finals.

Mazzetto worked his way up from the bottom of the B flight bracket with three wins. In his opener, Mazzetto downed Cornell’s Weston Nichols in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. In the quarterfinal round, he knocked off Colgate’s Phil Bernasek in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0 and rolled into the finals showdown with Singh Panthlia by virtue of a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win over Duquesne’s Mark Maciuch in the semifinals.

Singh Panthlia and Kolomytes reached the A flight doubles championship on Sunday with an 8-4 win over Duquesne’s Alex Mast and Maciuch in the semifinal round. The UB pair fell in the championship match to Concordia’s Alex Grubin and Rodrigo Teixeira, 8-5. Like their Concordia opponents, the UB duo needed an extra match in the doubles bracket to reach the finals as they opened with an 8-4 win over Army’s Trip Johnson and Jordan Gridley in a play-in match. Singh Panthlia and Kolomytes then scored an 8-4 win over Mirza Klis and Gauthier of Cornell in round of 16 and an 8-6 victory over Colgate’s Martin MacIntyre and Tyler Deck in the quarterfinals.

Kolomytes played in the A flight of singles play scoring wins in the consolation round after falling in his opening match and taking the backdraw title. In the consolation round, he downed Sean Harris of Army, 9-7, and knocked off Colgate’s John Nogueras in the consolation semifinals. Kolomytes won the consolation title by default over Matt Gordon of Fairleigh Dickinson.

Alexis Lluis (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Americano de Tabasco) also worked his way through the consolation bracket of the C flight after falling in his opening match. Lluis defeated Colgate’s Mike Shea, 8-1, but fell to Army’s John Lucero, 8-6 in the semifinal round.

In the D flight, Eric Rothstein (Phoenixville, PA/Great Valley) scored a first-round win over Jamie Pellechi of Colgate in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 before falling to Army’s Josh Krieter in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2. Also in the D flight, Ezra Bernstein (Buffalo, NY/City Honors) lost his opening match, 6-2, 6-3, to Colgate’s Reid Kiyabu. There was no consolation play in the D flight.

The Bulls dropped both of their B flight doubles openers. Rothstein and Bernstein lost to Marist’s Antonio Oliver and Jack Famiglio, 8-4. Mazzetto and Lluis fell to Kirill Azovtsev and Nik Boerger of Concordia, 8-3.

Dual meet play for the Bulls begins with a three-day trip to California in January. The Bulls will face the University of San Francisco in the dual-meet opener on January 19, before facing Sacramento State and UC-Davis to complete the trip.