The UB men's tennis team accomplished a milestone Thursday afternoon, leaving their head coach one victory away from a milestone of his own.
It was not typical Mid-American Conference competition, nonetheless Buffalo did capture their first ever conference win by clobbering the conference's newest affiliate member Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 7-0 at the Village Glenn Tennis Center. UB joined the MAC in 1998, so the milestone win has been five seasons in the making.
The win also marked head coach Russ Crispell's 99th career victory, and he will be shooting for 100 this Sunday when his team plays a home contest against Bucknell.
"This was a real monkey off our backs," said head coach Russ Crispell. "It's been a long time in the MAC and I can remember when we first came in. It's such an uphill battle and I have a lot of empathy for what (IPFW) is going through."
Empathy is certainly the proper word, and pity could be thought of as another for the new kids on the block. Crispell's team has struggled mightily against the ultra-competitive MAC. Last season the Bulls captured two total points in six matches against MAC teams, and were shutout four times. If IPFW could not capture a single point against Buffalo, imagine how they are going to fare against the rest of the MAC.
In this year's pre-season poll, the Bulls were picked to finish fifth of six, IPFW was slated for last. IPFW is only a MAC member in the sport of men's tennis, transferring over from the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Buffalo got off to a strong start in doubles as they swept all three matches in earning the crucial doubles point, which bolstered the Bull's confidence.
Randy Rocchio and Nick Zieziula won 8-5 at first doubles, Rannga Prahudha and Josh Liederman also won 8-5 at second doubles, and Rohan Raikar teamed with Fery Kasiman to win 8-3 at third doubles.
The momentum of the doubles triumph carried over to singles play as Buffalo captured each of the six matches without dropping a set.
"It's pretty exciting to see a program built from the ground up and I am really satisfied with the progress we have made as a team," said Rocchio. "I feel very fortunate to be able to be part of it."
The Bulls won all six singles matches with no player losing more than three games in any match.
"I felt good today. We wanted to come out here and make a statement against these guys," said Liederman. "They're the new members of the conference and we want to make them bottom feeders now. To finally win our first conference match is really great for the program."
UB returns to MAC competition with home matches on March 28 against Ball State at 6 p.m. at the Village Glen Tennis Center and March 29 against Northern Illinois at UB's University Tennis Center.
"It's tough when half of your conference is nationally ranked, but I am really proud of the way my team performed today and I think we're ready to take on more MAC schools," added Crispell.
