Mike Rockman

HANOVER, NH - The University at Buffalo men's tennis team completed the fall portion of the 2004-05 schedule over the weekend with good results at the Dartmouth Big Green Invitational. UB sent three players to the non-scoring flighted event.

Sophomore Mike Rockman (Toronto, Ontario/Thornhill), senior Nick Zieziula (Hamburg, NY/St. Francis) and junior Matt Kennedy (Mississauga, Ontario/Erindale) competed in singles and doubles play as players from 11 Northeastern schools competed in the tournament.

Rockman turned in the best results in singles play with a 3-1 record. Rockman opened the A flight singles bracket with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Zoltan Bus of Manhattan. In the second round, Rockman scored a straight-sets win over Rutgers' Gabe Adams, 6-4, 7-5. He earned a semifinal berth by rallying from a set down to defeat Harvard's Scott Denenberg, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. The sophomore lost in his quest to reach the finals, falling 6-1, 6-0, to Dartmouth's Dave Webb, the tournament's top seed.

However, Rockman did score a title in the doubles competition. Paired with Princeton's Jonathan Leslie, the duo claimed the B title with three victories. They opened with an 8-4 win over New Hampshire's Goldy Sherrill and Brett Teolis then scored an 8-3 win over Dartmouth's Rashaad Elder-Bush and John Bois to move into the finals. In the championship match, Rockman and Leslie knocked off another Dartmouth duo, Eli Samaha and Travis Maiers, 8-5.

Nick Zieziula

Zieziula also competed the A singles competition dropping his opening round match, 7-5, 6-3 to Maiers. Zieziula then moved into the backdraw where he scored a victory over Assumption's Mike Goldman. After losing the first set, 6-3, Zieziula rallyed to take the second set, 6-4, to force a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker extended past the 10-point mark as Zieziula scored a 13-11 win to claim the match.

Playing in the B flight, Kennedy lost his opening match in a tiebreaker, falling to Marist's Frank Algier, 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-3. Kennedy then defeated Dartmouth's David Steinberg in the backdraw in another tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-3, 12-10.

Matt Kennedy

Zieziula and Kennedy formed UB's A doubles entry going 1-1 in their matches. The duo opened with an 8-2 victory over Harvard's Caleb Gardner and Jordan Bohnen. Zieziula and Kennedy were then defeated in the quarterfinal round by Dartmouth's Mark Brodie and Jeff Schechtman, 8-2.

The Bulls begin the spring campaign on January 21 against Manhattan in a neutral site match at Columbia University. The squad then finishes its first weekend with matches at Brown and Boston College on January 22 and 23.