???Road games have not been kind to the men's tennis team this March. Buffalo has been on the road for six straight matches, dropping all but one contest.
???Saturday proved to be another tough day for the Bulls as they fell to the Toledo Rockets at the UT Varsity Tennis Courts, 6-1.
???Four of the six singles matches came down to the final set. However, the Bulls (7-7, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) were unable to close out these tight match-ups against the Rockets (15-7, 1-0 MAC).
???"We battled the elements and the feisty Bulls as a team," said Toledo head coach Al Wermer in a press release. "We talk about MAC matches being roller coaster rides, and this one was back and forth most of the way."
???The Bulls' No. 1 doubles duo of sophomore Marcelo Mazzetto and junior Kirill Kolomyts started the losing stretch early on. They were rolled by Toledo's doubles duo of Jared Miller and Nutthavit Likitkumchorn, 8-5.
???In the second doubles match, sophomore Mitch Zenaty and freshman Guilherme Smaniotto dropped another contest for the Bulls. The pair fell to Toledo's Sven Burus and Robbie McCallum, 8-3.
???The Bulls' third duo captured Buffalo's lone doubles victory. Senior Octavian Stane and freshman Alex Kalinin defeated Toledo's Jayson Miller and Aleksander Elezovic in a close 8-7 victory, that was decided after Stane and Kalinin won a 7-4 tiebreaker.
???But the Bulls were unable to build off this win during singles play. The singles portion of the match saw the Bulls in position to score numerous wins, but the team could not close out in the final sets.
???In the No. 1 singles match, Mazzetto loss to Toledo's Jared Miller, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1. Kolomyts managed to score the Bulls' lone win of the day in singles action, knocking off Toledo's Sven Burus in two straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
???In the third singles match, Kalinin fell to Toledo's Likitkumchorn, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5, while freshman Kristof Custers lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to the Rockets' Elezovic in the No. 4 singles match.
???The tightest contest of the day was between Stane and the Rockets' Gursher Harika. The match went to a super tiebreaker, with Stane eventually falling 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7).
???Smaniotto lost in the sixth singles match in straight sets to Toledo's Jayson Miller, 6-2, 6-1.
???After nearly a solid month of road matches, Buffalo will enjoy the comfort of home for three straight contests in April. Buffalo's homestand starts on Saturday when it hosts MAC rival Ball State. The match starts at 5 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
