The silver lining in the clouds was easy to find for the men's tennis team in Ithaca, N.Y. on Sunday morning.
For the first time in its Division I history, Buffalo (4-6) was able to score more than one point against an Ivy League opponent in dual-meet play. The Bulls lost to Cornell, 4-3, in their second of two matches at Cornell's Reis Tennis Center last weekend. However, the Bulls fell just short to a tough Big Red team.
"The match-up against Cornell was huge," said assistant coach Nick Zieziula. "It's the first time we've had a match point against a team like that. So on one hand, it's disappointing, but it shows the progress that the program has made."
The Bulls got off to a quick start, winning the doubles point for the eighth time in 10 matches. Senior Mike Rockman earned his eighth straight doubles victory, as he paired up with fellow senior Albert Alant for an 8-5 victory in the second match against Weston Nichols and Bryant Yung of Cornell. For the game point, Bulls' junior Nikesh Singh Panthlia and sophomore Octavian Stone defeated Kyle Doppelt and Joshua Goldstein, 8-6, for their fourth consecutive victory as a pair.
Buffalo found itself down 3-1 in singles play going into the fourth match-up, but a hard fought match from Singh Panthlia put the Bulls within one point of going to the final round. Panthlia bested Dan Brous by a score of 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, and set up freshman Kirill Kolomytes' deciding match against Doppelt.
The first set went in Doppelt's favor, 6-3, but Kolomytes came back to take the next set by the same score. Yet, Kolomytes, serving for match point with a 6-4 lead in the third set, could not close the deal on a relentless Doppelt. Doppelt rallied to take a 9-7 decision, scoring five of the final six points for the win.
"I think a lot of guys are finding a lot of confidence," Zieziula said. "The loss against Cornell, it hurts and we got two match points for it but we've never come close to beating an Ivy (League school) on the scoreboard. We've played tough matches against them but we've never been inside of 6-1 against them at the end of the day. So the fact that we know we're making progress and we're able to challenge a school that's perennial top 75, and be literally a point away gives the guys incentive to keep working that much harder in practice."
On Saturday, the Bulls fell to Stony Brook, 4-3, with the deciding match once again on the shoulders of Kolomyte. Matched up against Youssef Fassi-Fehri of the Seawolves, Kolomytes held an early lead, winning the first set, 7-5. In a tiebreaker, Fassi-Fehro took the second set, 7-6 (5), and used that momentum to swing a 6-2 victory in the third, earning the victory for Stony Brook.
"Stony Brook's a tough team and we didn't take advantage of a couple opportunities that we had," Zieziula said. "When it came down to it, [in] Kirill's match up, [Fassi-Fehro] stepped up and played. It wasn't like we choked and gave away the match. They had some guys step up and play some big tennis down the stretch."
Bulls' seniors Rockman and Yules Hadisubroto also won their singles sets. Rockman defeated Nihal Advani 6-3, 6-1, while Hadisubroto posted a 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 decision over Ilan Shvartz.
The Bulls are 1-5 in their last six, and even though they are in the midst of a four game losing streak, Zizieula was impressed with the way his team rebounded on Sunday from the Stony Brook loss.
"Not really happy with our record, 4-6, but we're happy with the way we're playing and the progress we're making," Zieziula said. "The biggest thing is that we're making jumps and improvements to be ready for the conference and we're doing that."
The Bulls travel for to Florida for their next two match ups, the first coming on Tuesday against Stetson (6-5), at 2:30 p.m. Buffalo's next home game will be on Friday, March 23, when the Bulls host Mid-American Conference rival Ball State (4-5) in a night match-up scheduled for 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
