Success against a local rival is always gratifying, even when it takes place at a site 400 miles away.
The Bulls tennis team came away with three victories at the Dartmouth Volkl Shootout, two of which came against the Niagara Purple Eagles, a fellow Buffalo foe. Buffalo players accumulated eight singles victories in 18 matches and came away with four doubles victories in nine matches. There was no team scoring in the event.
Buffalo got off to a fast start with freshman Marcelo Mazzetto scoring a victory, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, over Dartmouth's David Sink in the C flight match on Friday. Junior Alexis Lluis defeated Army's John Lucero 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 to give the Bulls their second victory of the day.
However, the Bulls dropped their other four singles matches as well as four of the six doubles matches on Friday. That day proved to be the Bulls' most frustrating day of the tournament.
"The first day wasn't as good as expected but I wouldn't say we played poorly," said head coach Sherif Zaher. "They were all going in very excited because it was our first tournament and they were nervous."
Saturday turned out to be a more successful outing for the Bulls as the team was able to amass five wins overall. Two of these wins came in doubles matches as sophomore Kirill Kolomytes and senior Nikesh Singh Panthlia won their A flight contest, 8-6, over Rhode Island's Jeff Cote and Jared Dorfman. The duo of Mazzetto and Lluis also added a double's victory, 8-3, over Army's Phil Muhawi and Lucero.
The Bulls also saw improvement in the singles matches. Kolomytes won his match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0, over Geoff Schwartz of Amherst and freshman Ezra Bernstein won in a similar dominating fashion, 6-0, 6-4, over Amherst's Peter Stein. With each of their victories, both Kolomytes and Bernstein moved into the consolation finals for Sunday. Panthlia also recorded a singles victory on Saturday defeating Army's Jordan Girdley, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Going into the final day of competition on Sunday, both Singh Panthlia and Bernstein faced competition against their rivals from Niagara University. However both Panthlia and Bernstein made clear statements to their local competitors by handing their foes tough losses.
Bernstein won his match through a tiebreaker in the final set, defeating Nick Bollea, 7-5, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8). Panthlia breezed through his match, beating Alex Abji in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, capping a weekend in which he went 2-1 in singles matches.
"For him, he's just reflecting on the things he was doing well last year, starting on a good note," Zaher said in regards to Panthlia. "He's a senior so he's got to make the most of what he does this year."
Sophomore Eric Rothstein also gained a victory in his match Sunday over Amherst's Alex Gumpert. Rothstein defeated Grumpert 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, giving the Bulls their third singles victory of the day.
While there were bright spots in the Bulls' play over the weekend, the tournament as a whole shined light on areas of improvement for the team.
"It wasn't the way I would have liked it to end up. I'd say 80 percent (of the matches) were close three setters, but it's a good starting point for the season," Zaher said. "Each player has a couple things to improve upon, particularly becoming stronger physically and mentally."
Buffalo and Niagara will once again be facing each other on the courts the weekend of October 5th through the 7th. This time however, the teams will be competing on familiar ground, sharing home court advantage for the UB/Niagara Invitational.
"The guys know that we have only several days to get ready for the next tournament," Zaher said. "And they want to make the most of it."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
