The men's tennis team may have dodged strong, cool October air at the Cornell Fall Indoor Invitational, but the matches were still no easy breeze.
The event showcased a field of competitors from Army, Binghamton, Colgate, Farleigh Dickinson, Marist, Navy, Temple and host Cornell. The Invitational used a flights format in which players are ranked and compete only with those of their corresponding rank.
Senior Mike Rockman and junior Nikesh Singh Panthlia represented the Bulls in flight A singles play. Rockman scored an opening round victory against Temple's Nathan Spunda (6-1, 6-3) before succumbing to Pierre Clavel of Binghamton, 6-4, 6-4.
Singh Panthlia dropped his opening round contest to Pedro Genevese, 6-3, 6-4. In the consolation bracket though he bested Chris Albornoz of Army, 8-4 before running into Farleigh Dickinson's Priit Gross and falling 8-6.
Senior Yules Hadisubroto made a run at the flight B championship. He posted a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Farleigh Dickinson's Alexander Nace before moving on to defeat Pavlos Stephanides of Temple, 6-2, 6-2. It was in the semifinal round against Tongle Yu of Cornell that he finally met his match. Yu posted a 6-4, 6-3 win to stop Hadisubroto in his tracks.
Teammate and sophomore Octavian Stane also competed in the flight B grouping. In first round action he fell to Binghamton's Alex Dorbin, 6-2, 6-2. From there he went on a run in the consolation bracket and gained wins over Justin Seow from Farleigh Dickinson and Philip Gegenheimer of Temple to advance to the finals. There he met up with Colgate's Marshall Wheeler but was defeated by a score of 8-4.
Rounding out the singles lineup was freshman Eric Rothstein, who dropped his decision 6-4, 6-4 against Cornell's Bryant Yung in flight C competition. From there he bested Michael Shea of Colgate before eventually being dispersed from the consolation round by Gonzalo De Villa of Temple, 8-6.
"The team played well. We were happy with the results and we made some strides for what we looked to achieve this weekend," said assistant coach Nick Zieziula.
The Bulls also sent two doubles pairings into the flight A competition. Rockman and Stane teamed up, but fell in their first round contest against Chris Innes and Wheeler from Colgate by a score of 8-2.
The duo that stole the show for the Bulls was that of Singh Panthlia and Hadisubroto. They scored a first round victory that took some extra effort by a 9-7 margin over Gregory Marks and Ray Josephs of Marist. Their next victims were Army's Charles Mullenger and Albornoz, who were dismissed by a score of 8-5.
"They really adhered to what we were preaching all week." Zieziula said. "They had high intensity, good focus and played with confidence."
In Saturday's action the pair bested Weston Nichols and Yung of Cornell, 8-3. This set up a championship match against Marist's tandem of Frederico Rolon and Genovese. When the match was over the Bulls found themselves on the wrong side of an 8-3 decision.
"Marist was a strong team. They came out and attacked and put us in a defensive position," Zieziula said. "We got down a bit and it's really difficult to come back from that in the format we were playing."
With just one match left in the fall season at Dartmouth's Big Green Invite this weekend, Buffalo has several things to look forward to. Senior Albert Alant will be returning to the lineup after missing most of the fall season with an injury. Another goal is to end the fall portion of the season on a good note.
"We want to finish the season with a positive," Zieziula said. "That sets the tone for a good start to the spring season."
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
