If you want to be the best, you have to play your best. The Buffalo men's tennis team did just that this weekend, but found out they still have some work to do.
The University of Pennsylvania played host to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Championships, one of the year's largest collegiate tennis tournaments.
Making the trek for the Bulls were seniors Mike Rockman and Yules Hadisubroto, along with junior Nikesh Singh Panthlia. The five-day event started Thursday but saw the Bulls bow out early Saturday against strong competition.
The tournament is a rigorous bracket style competition in which one loss eliminates the player from contention. Top-flight programs such as the University of Connecticut, Harvard and Princeton were all in attendance, as well as local foes Niagara University and St. Bonaventure. The regional breakup of the tournament across the country pitted the Bulls against some familiar opponents and some they had never faced.
"We were a little disappointed with our results, but we were able to take away some good experience for the rest of our fall season," said assistant coach Nick Zieziula.
Coming into the tournament, Rockman was looking to build on his performance from last year. He won his opening round match against Cprime Realista of St. Peter's College in strong fashion (6-1, 6-2) but fell in Friday's second round to Princeton's Sratha Saengsuwarn, 6-2, 6-1. Saengsuwarn, the 15th ranked player in the tournament, spoiled Rockman's attempt to go deeper than his third round exit at last year's event.
Panthlia took a different route into tournament play. He was eliminated from contention in the qualifying round by Quirijin Van Veen of Stony Brook after he advanced past St. Bonaventure's Andrew Hart. Then he became a "lucky-loser" and was chosen from the field of eliminated players to fill the void of injured Virginia Tech star Albert Larregola, who suffered an injury in doubles play.
Filling in for the fifth seeded player in the tournament, Panthlia made some noise in his first match against Brown University's Chris Lee. He held the serve with a 3-1 advantage and again at 5-3 before he eventually faltered and was dismissed by Lee to the tune of 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Hadisubroto competed in the consolation bracket. He bested Alfredo Fernandez-Concha of Lehigh, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8), before a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Boston College's Alex Rastorgouev.
In doubles play, the Bulls paired Rockman and Hadisubroto for a run against the competition. The duo defeated doubles pair Stefano Salvatore and Goldy Sherrill of Quinnipiac University 8-2 to advance to the second round. Then, they too met their demise against Brown University as Basu Ratnam and Eric Thomas dominated Buffalo's tandem for an 8-1 victory.
The Bulls were able to take away some experience against quality competition from the weekend but found out that against more experienced and seasoned opponents they have some fine-tuning to do.
"The positive about the weekend was that the matches we were the better team we dominated from the start," Zieziula said. "With only two tournaments remaining on the fall schedule we're not going to overhaul mechanics, its just working on the mental aspect of the game."
As the fall season comes closer to its completion, the coaching staff continues to preach their three main goals: intensity, focus and confidence. The Bulls look to build on the positives from the weekend and to adjust their shortcomings.
The team will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. this weekend for the Cornell Invitational and on Nov. 4 to close out the season at the Big Green Invite on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
