Special K

Living in a large city with over 10 million people can make it easy for a person with good skills and athletic ability to be underappreciated and overlooked. With a student population of only 30,000 here at UB, however, if you're a "special" athlete, you have the opportunity to really stand out. That is the case for sophomore men's tennis player Kirill Kolomytes, who hails from Moscow, Russia.

Every good player needs a cool nickname, so with his accolades and his off-the-court personality, he and his teammates agreed on a nickname that suited him best, "Special K."

"I didn't realize it referred to the cereal at first, even though I was eating a lot of it," Kolomytes said. "But my first and last name begins with a K, and I think I'm special and so did the guys on the team, so that's how I got the name."

Buffalo got lucky when Kolomytes chose to come to UB instead of going to one of the other schools interested in him, such as the University of Texas at Arlington.

"I chose Buffalo over the other schools because it was better for me economically. The tennis team looked good, and I wasn't scared of the snow, being from Russia," Kolomytes said.

To some, the transition to living in cold and snowy Buffalo would be tough. But for Kolomytes, Buffalo was just another destination, and a great way to rack up some more frequent flyer miles.

"The transition to Buffalo was pretty easy. I lived in Spain for two years, England, Austria, and some other places, so I learned how to communicate with different people easily. Also my teammates here helped me out a lot, showing me around campus, and introducing me to the athletic department," Kolomytes said.

His short time here at UB has already brought him memorable experiences. In men's tennis history, the Bulls have never defeated an Ivy League school. But during Kolomytes' freshman year, he had a chance to change history. With the Bulls and Cornell tied 3-3, Kirill had the opportunity to give the school the win. Kolomytes won the first set then lost the second set. In the third set, Kolomyes lost three match points, which ultimately lost the game for Buffalo.

"I pretty much needed to win one match to change the history of the school," Kolomytes said. "It would have been incredible for me to win this match as a freshman; I always keep this match in my mind."

Kolomytes was fortunate to redeem himself a year later, defeating the Cornell player that previously beat him.

Nerves were a major factor in Kolomytes freshman losses. Now, before a match, Kolomytes goes off in the corner, where he listens to soothing music, preferably Tracy Chapman.

Off the court, Kolomytes is a business major. He wants to focus on international business and finance. Kolomytes's future goals include getting valuable work experience in his field, obtain his MBA, and eventually move back to Moscow.

When Kolomytes is not at practice or catching up on schoolwork, he enjoys entertaining his friends with a nice meal that he prepared himself, or he may just pull out a guitar and play some tunes that he learned from teammate Nikesh Singh Panthlia.

Now that's special.