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Big Green Invite Completes Opening Day

Mike Rockman

HANOVER, NH – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team opened at the Big Green Invite with strong play from its singles and doubles squads as the first day of competition came to a close on Saturday in Hanover, NH.

Senior Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) led the Bulls on Saturday by advancing into the quarterfinals in both the singles and doubles competitions. In singles play, Rockman, seeded eighth in the A flight, earned a first round bye. He then defeated Antonio Oliver of Marist, 6-4, 6-1, to set up a quarterfinal confrontation with top-seeded Ashwin Kumar of Harvard. Kumar outlasted Manhattan's Mihal Nichifor in a 12-10 third-set super-tiebreaker to move into the quarterfinals.

Rockman also teamed with senior Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) to advance in the doubles quarterfinals. The UB duo knocked off Frank Algier and Antonio Oliver of Marist, 8-4, in the first round and then scored another 8-4 win over McGill's Vincent Menard and Troy Puddington. Rockman and Alant next face top seeded Kieran Burke and Kumar of Harvard in the quarterfinals on Sunday morning. For Alant, the tournament is his first taste of action this season after sitting out much of the fall with a foot injury.

At the bottom of the A flight bracket, UB's Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) and Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) were bounced out in their second round matches. Singh Panthlia defeated Harvard's Michael Hayes, 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7) in first round play before falling to Marist's Pedro Genovese, the sixth seed, 6-4, 6-4. Genovese also defeated Singh Panthlia in the opening round of last week's Cornell Fall Invitational. Hadisubroto earned a first round bye, but fell in the second round to third-seeded Justin Tzou of Dartmouth in a super-tiebreaker third set, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-1).

In the B flight, Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) won his opening match over Andrew Tervoonen of Rutgers, 6-1, 6-2. Stane was defeated in the second round by Burke of Harvard, the fifth seed in the singles bracket, 7-6 (5), 6-3. At the top of the B bracket, UB's Eric Rothstein (Phoenixville, PA/Great Valley) earned a first-round bye, but fell to top-seeded David Alvarado of Manhattan, 7-5, 6-3, in second-round play.

UB's remaining two doubles combinations were unable to advance past the second round. Stane and Rothstein paired to form one team, picking up a first-round bye before falling to sixth-seeded Diego and David Alvarado of Manhattan, 8-6. Hadisubroto and Singh Panthlia fell in their first-round match to Michael Hayes and Dan Nguyen of Harvard, 8-6.

Play continues through Monday.