Two rackets are better than one. At least, this was the case over the weekend as the men's tennis team's top duo crushed the competition at the UB/Niagara Invitational.
Playing on their cross-town rival's home courts, Bulls senior Nikesh Singh Panthlia and sophomore Kirill Kolomytes teamed up to handle their opponents, winning the A flight doubles portion of the tournament on Sunday at Niagara.
While the team of Panthlia and Kolomytes made it look easy, Head Coach Sherif Zaher feels their success together have been a work in progress, coming in to fruition with the results over the weekend.
"They built on from what they did last year," Zaher said, "They played a few matches together last year and the chemistry was there. They definitely had some great wins."
Beginning on Friday with their match against Alex Abji and Roman Silin of Niagara, Panthlia and Kolomytes defeated the Purple Eagles pair 8-5, setting the stage to dominate their competition.
Saturday's match bred similar results with Panthlia and Kolomytes beating the team of Misha Lew and Peng Peng from York, 8-3. The pair finished the tournament on Sunday with their final victory over Marc Dickinson and Walter Garcia of Niagara.
The duo of sophomore Eric Rothstein and freshman Ezra Bernstein also had success in their doubles matches over the weekend. The pair won the consolation finals on Sunday, defeating John Angiouni and Ajay Nune of St. Francis 8-5.
While the doubles teams enjoyed their achievements, the singles matches did not have the same results. The Bulls began the tournament strong winning six out of seven singles matches on Friday, but dropped all but two matches on Saturday as Zaher felt the second day's contests were much more competitive.
"The first day, the matches they won were easier competition," Zaher said, "We played the last day in Niagara and the lighting was different on the courts."
The change in courts may have affected the Bulls' play but the matches remained close and hard fought nonetheless.
"We definitely saw some guys compete very hard with close matches," Zaher said. "We know more now what we need to improve on and what we have to do to be successful going into the spring season."
The Bulls have struggled this season in singles matches, but Zaher feels that it's just part of the growing process during the season.
"I definitely think we could have done better but well take it as a learning curve." Zaher said.
Despite these struggles, Singh Panthalia made it to the A flight finals before bowing out in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) to Misha Lew. Junior Alex Lluis was the only other Bull to advance into the semifinals in singles competition. Lluis fell in the B flight semifinals to Niagara's Nick Bolea by a score of 6-3, 6-2.
Three Bulls failed to make it past Saturday afternoon's matches, falling in the semifinal matches. Bernstein lost to top seeded Dickinson in the B flight semifinals, while freshman Marcelo Mazzetto fell to A flight's top seed, Walter Garcia. The third Bull to fail to advance to the finals was Rothstein who lost to Niagara's Joe Heckley 6-1, 6-3.
The Bulls' next tournament will begin Thursday in Princeton, New Jersey for ITA Regionals where only the best can compete.
"Not everybody gets to go to that tournament; those guys that are going are very excited," Zaher said. "They'll be seeing a much higher level of tennis, it will be a good test to see how some of our players match up against some of the best in the country."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
