At 8 a.m. on Sunday, while most students were still in bed, sleeping off the weekend, UB men's tennis star Nick Zieziula was busy writing his name in the UB record books.
Zieziula became the winningest men's singles player in UB tennis history. He recorded singles win number 65 while the UB men defeated Duquense in Pittsburgh by a score of 7-0.
The early morning start was rough on the team, especially after arriving in Pittsburgh late Saturday night. The fact that the Bulls were able to battle through this adversity and win so convincingly made UB head coach Russ Crispell very proud.
"Working on so little sleep, I am very proud of these guys." Crispell stated in a press release.
Zieziula improved his record to 65-56, through his four years on the tennis team. The 65th win put Zieziula ahead of former UB tennis player Ferry Kasiman, the previous record holder with 64 career wins in singles matches.
Crispell expressed how important the senior, Zieziula, is to the team.
"Nick Zieziula came up big after two close matches, the previous two times against (opponent) Devon Peightal," Crispell stated. "Nick was on his game today, and knew what he had to do."
UB dominated Duquense, taking two out of the three doubles matches for one point and sweeping the six singles matches to defeat Duquense, 7-0.
Besides winning his singles match against Peightal, 7-5, 6-3, Zieziula helped lead UB to victory by winning his doubles match with partner Yules Hadisubroto 8-5.
Other winners for UB included the team of Matt Kennedy and Albert Alant, as well as singles winners Mike Rockman, Hadisubroto, Alant, Kennedy, and Alejandro Galindo. The lone blemish on the day for UB was the team of Rockman and Galindo, who lost their doubles match to Paul Clough and Rodrigo Lacavo of Duquense.
Crispell was very pleased with the team's win, but acknowledged that the team's victory was not as dominant as it looked on paper.
"The individual matches were a lot closer then the score would indicate. It was a good measuring stick for us," stated Crispell.
In the second, third and fourth singles matches UB needed three sets to win. At second singles, Mike Rockman lost the first set to Rodrigo Lacavo, before coming from behind to win the last two sets and eventually win the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Fourth singles also saw a UB player come back from one set down to win the game, this time it was Alant, over Adam Townsend 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Third singles saw Hadisubroto win set one before dropping set two and eventually winning the third set to defeat Michael Ortega 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
First, fifth and sixth singles went smoother for UB as these three matches ended in straight set wins for UB.
Zieziula dropped Peightal in straight sets for his 65th and record-breaking victory for UB in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3.
At fifth singles, Kennedy had a straight set, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Paul Clough.
Avenging his team's doubles loss, Galindo defeated Robert Ojeda in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.
With the win, UB improved its record to 4-5 overall, and still remains 0-1 in the MAC. The loss drops Duquense's record to 2-5.
The Bulls next match will be at Cornell on Friday at 5 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
