Singles, Doubles Squads Ousted at Big Green Invite

Nikesh Singh Panthlia

HANOVER, NH – The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team finished the fall 2006 campaign on Sunday as its remaining players from championship competition at Dartmouth’s Big Green Invite.

Senior Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) was eliminated in the A flight of the singles competition in the quarterfinal round by top-seeded Ashwin Kumar of Harvard in a third-set super-tiebreaker. Rockman, the eighth seed in the bracket, opened play with a 6-4 victory in the first set. After trailing 5-2 in the second set, he rallied to tie the set at 5-5 before Kumar took the final two games for a 7-5 decision, forcing the super-tiebreaker. In the breaker, Rockman fell, 10-6, eliminating the senior from contention.

Rockman and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) were knocked out of the quarterfinals of the doubles competition on Sunday as well. Playing top-seeded Kieran Burke and Kumar of Harvard, the UB duo fell 8-1.

Several other Bulls played consolation matches. Unlike previous tournaments the Bulls have played in this season, the Big Green Invite’s consolations consisted of one match with no chance for advancement following a victory.

UB picked up two singles consolation wins as Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) defeated Dartmouth’s Jeff Friedman, 6-0, 7-5 while Octavian Stane (Toronto, Ontario/Leaside) scored a 6-4, 6-0 victory over McGill’s Troy Puddington. Yules Hadisubroto (Jakarta, Indonesia/SMUN 21) fell to Manhattan’s Peter Czink, 6-4, 6-2, in his consolation match.

UB’s doubles combos scored a pair of wins in their consolation matches. Hadisubroto and Singh Panthlia defeated Puddington and Vincent Menard of McGill, 8-4. Eric Rothstein (Phoenixville, PA/Great Valley) paired with Stane to defeat Daniel Freeman and Justin Tzou, 9-8, scoring a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker. Freeman and Tzou had entered the tournament as the fourth-seeded doubles squad.

The Bulls begin dual meet play in the spring semester starting in late January.