There were leaves falling on the campus of Dartmouth College this weekend, and when senior Mike Rockman and the Buffalo men's tennis team arrived, records began to drop as well.
Buffalo traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire for the Dartmouth Volkl Shootout and squared off against the Boston University Terriers, the Jumbos of Tufts University, and perennial Division III powerhouse Williams College Ephs. Local rivals Niagara University and St. Bonaventure were also in attendance, along with Army and host Dartmouth for the weekend's matches.
The team opened the tournament on Friday against Boston University and notched five singles wins against the Terriers. Rockman, junior Yules Hadisubroto, sophomore Nikesh Singh Panthlia and freshmen Octavian Stane and Eric Rothstein all scored decisive victories in Friday's matches for Buffalo.
The same lineup duplicated its success a day later, when Saturday's match saw the Jumbos get stampeded over by Bulls. Two days into the tournament, the team held a singles record of 10-0 and looked invincible.
Sunday, however, was a different story, as the Bulls ran into the Ephs. Buffalo's top two players Rockman and Panthlia still scored wins, but the rest of the lineup faltered under the pressure of playing one of the nation's best programs. Ted Haley, Rick Devlin and Karol Furmaga of Williams College came out on the winning side of their matches against the Bulls Sunday. The Bulls seemed to have a little bit of a letdown going into the third day of play at the tournament.
"Williams is definitely a stronger opponent than the first two schools," said assistant coach Nick Zieziula. "Early in the season, with one week of practice, stamina may have been an issue."
Buffalo's doubles pairings also notched a successful weekend going 5-1. The Bulls rode the pair of Stane and Panthlia to three wins while Rockman and Hadisubroto accounted for two.
The Bulls also had a strong singles performance, going 12-for-15 in matches on the weekend to match the efforts of its doubles partners. Buffalo recorded the most victories at the weekend long event, as it rose to the challenge of several top-flight programs.
However, it was Rockman that stole the show and etched his name into the Buffalo record books as the winningest singles player in school history. Entering the weekend Rockman had 68 career wins, just one shy of tying the record. For inspiration he didn't have to look far, as the holder of the record was none other than Rockman's former teammate and current assistant coach Zieziula.
Rockman tied the record on Friday when he defeated Boston University's Barrett Wolf handily 6-2, 6-3. The record was in his sole possession after a 6-1, 6-1 drubbing of Tuft's Corey Keller. Adding a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Williams College's Daniel Greenberg, Rockman left the tournament with 71 wins, and in sole possession of the most prestigious tennis record at the university.
"It is an honor to have been a teammate and a coach of Mike's," Zieziula said. "He is the type of guy I would like to see surpass benchmarks like that. Records are meant to be broken, it really just shows that our program is going in the right direction."
The Bulls next see action on Thursday, Oct. 19th in Philadelphia for the ITA Regionals after a lengthy break. The team looks to continue its winning ways in the next tournament.
"It was good that we had two weeks of competition against strong teams," Zieziula said. "We look to continue to be the most intense team with the best conditioning."
With that outlook maybe we will see more weekends such as this, with the passing of the torch of victorious traditions.
But what if Ziezoula and Rockman were to face off in a match?
"Right now, he'd be kicking my butt," Zieziula said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
