Men's Tennis Weekly Release

Bulls Wrap Up Fall Slate at Cornell Indoor Invite

The University at Buffalo men's tennis team concluded the fall portion of the schedule with play at the Cornell Fall Indoor Invitational at the Reis Tennis Center. There was no team scoring as bracket play was contested in three singles and two doubles flights. Eight schools sent teams to the tournament. Three UB players went 2-1 in singles play in their flights to lead the team.

Strong Singles Play From Singh Panthlia, Kennedy, Alant

Matt Kennedy

In the tournament's B flight, Nikesh Singh Panthlia (George Town, Malaysia/BMK Penang Free School) reached the semifinal round before being bounced out of the competition. Singh Panthlia opened the tournament by winning the final two sets over Fairfield's Michael Palumbo, 6-2, 6-1, after dropping the opening set in a 7-4 tiebreaker. Singh Panthlia also dropped the first set of his next match against Army's Sean Harris, 7-5, before scoring a 6-0 win in the second set. He led 2-0 in the third set before Harris was forced to retire. Singh Panthlia was eliminated by Colgate's Mickey Gallagher, the eventual B flight champion, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals.

In the C flight, Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) and Albert Alant (Pretoria, South Africa/Niskayuna (NY)) each scored two victories before bowing out in the quarterfinal round. Kennedy needed three sets to defeat Marist's Federico Rolon, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the opening round. He then breezed past Zachary Morrison of Fairfield, 6-1, 6-2. Kennedy was then knocked out by Cornell's Kyle Doppelt in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-1.

Alant had little trouble getting past Boston University's Hans Sapra, 6-0, 6-1, in his opening match. Then after dropping the opening set of his second-round match against Fairfield's Glen Gannon, 6-2, Alant took the final two sets, 6-0, 6-1, to move into the quarterfinals. He was defeated by Cornell's Weston Nichols, 6-3, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

Four Players With Winning Records in Fall

Thanks to their strong play in the tournament formats of the fall season, the Bulls have four players that have posted winning records thus far in the campaign. Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornlea) leads the team with a 9-4 record in 2005 while Singh Panthlia is next with an 8-3 mark. With their 2-1 singles records at the Cornell Fall Indoor Invitational, Kennedy and Stane are sporting 6-4 records. Two more players, Mike Zappone (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury) and Alejandro Galindo (Torreon, Mexico/Preparatoria Tec) are at .500 with 3-3 and 1-1 records, respectively.