The men's tennis team had a chance to do some damage in Mid-American Conference competition. The Bulls could not find their game as they were shut out for the second time this season, this time at the hands of the Northern Illinois Huskies.
The wind and weather played a factor in the Bulls' 7-0 loss, as they played a Northern Illinois team that has won six of their last seven competitions. Despite the Huskies' good play, Buffalo did not perform to the best of their ability.
"The guys didn't do a good job. I mean it was windy, but the guys just didn't do a good job of sticking to the game plan," said assistant coach Nick Zieziula. "There just wasn't a whole lot that was done well up and down the lineup. Their doubles played well, not spectacular, but they played simple and used the elements to their advantage."
The Bulls' lone highlight came in the third doubles match. Sophomore Kirill Kolomyts and junior Alexis Lluis defeated the Huskies' duo of Alfonso Monroy and Matt Hansen by a score of 8-3, giving Buffalo their only win of the night.
The Bulls were unable to take the doubles point, as they went on to lose the other two matches, each by a score of 8-2.
The Bulls were swept in all six of their singles matches, as Northern Illinois won five out of the six matches in straight sets. Freshman Marcelo Mazzetto put up the strongest fight for the Bulls, forcing a third set. But Alex Friesen would prove too tough to finish, winning 6-3, 4-6, 1-0, as Mazzetto went on to lose the third set in a super-tiebreaker.
"We played desperate at the wrong times trying to force ending the point early instead of staying patient, and that's the big difference" Zieziula said.
Junior Octavian Stane came close to splitting in his sets but could not force a third set and lost to Northern Illinois' Adam Ford 6-3, 7-6. Senior Nikesh Singh Panthlia fell victim to Brian Livingston 7-6, 6-4. With the victory over Singh Panthlia, Livingston has now won 10 consecutive singles matches.
"You have to trust in your game enough to be patient...If you don't trust yourself or trust your game plan or the game plan that is given to you, then you are going to force early and play desperate and you hope for things to happen instead of moving the chess pieces the right way," Zieziula said.
The Bulls now have an overall record of 5-15 and have not won a conference game yet as their record in the MAC stands at 0-4. Buffalo has only two more games remaining before the MAC championship tournament, and they will only have one chance to right themselves in the MAC when they play Ball State next weekend.
"We're not even really so much worried about those last two matches, but basically two and a half weeks of practices to get the guy's heads on straight," Zieziula said. "We need to be able to come together as a team, to be able to push each other to be able to do the right thing."
The Bulls next match will be Sunday, April 13 at Ball State at 1 p.m., where Buffalo will be looking to get on the board with their first conference win and fine tune themselves for the MAC Championships on the 25th.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
