After Thursday afternoon's sweep of IPFW in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference men's tennis tournament, the Bulls were eliminated in the semifinals of the tournament by conference powerhouse and tournament host Western Michigan, 4-0.
Facing the second-seeded Broncos (17-6), the No. 3 Bulls dropped Friday's match to finish the season with an overall record of 9-9.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it," said senior captain Nick Zieziula. "They were just a better team. They came out 100 percent focused, and they just had that much of a better lineup out there.
UB began the match with a 0-1 disadvantage after losing two of the three doubles matches by identical 8-2 match scores. Playing together for the first time this season, the No. 2 doubles tandem of Josh Liederman and Alejandro Galindo lost to Western Michigan's combo of Bryan Norville and Jose Orozco.
Meanwhile, at the third doubles spot, Albert Alant and Matt Kennedy were defeated by WMU's team of Jeff French and Tim Bradshaw, while the No. 1 singles match that featured UB's Zieziula and Yules Hadisubroto was not finished because the Broncos had already claimed the doubles point.
Zieziula and Hadisubroto had the daunting task of facing the 60th ranked doubles team - according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association - of Brady Crosby and Tommy Dennis.
With the Broncos up 1-0 entering the singles portion of the match, the Bulls dropped matches at third, fourth and fifth singles, which ultimately ended Buffalo's run at its first-ever MAC title.
Crosby defeated Hadisubroto at third singles 6-1, 6-0, while Liederman dropped his fourth singles match to Bradshaw by an identical 6-1, 6-0 score. At number five singles Kennedy was able to claim two games, but was defeated by WMU's Alex Birchmeier 6-1, 6-1.
The three victories claimed by WMU in singles allowed the Broncos to claim the entire match, 4-0, with the remaining singles matches featuring UB's Alant, Rockman and Zieziula not finished on the afternoon.
"I didn't get to see other people's matches, but I can say for my match against Tommy Dennis, that I didn't play bad," said Zieziula. "I tried different game plans, I thought I executed well on those game plans, he just came up with better shots. I don't think there is much more we could have done."
The loss to the Broncos marks not only the end of Buffalo's 2005 season, but also the end of the careers of UB's three senior co-captains: Zieziula, Liederman and Randy Rocchio.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
