Bulls Blank Bonnies, 7-0

Sunday, March 28

1 pm

St. Bonaventure

3/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team rolled to its fourth consecutive victory and remained unbeaten at home as the Bulls defeated local rival St. Bonaventure, 7-0, at the Miller Tennis Center on Sunday.

UB (8-4) made quick work of the Bonnies (5-6) by claiming the doubles point in less than an hour of play. UB's number one tandem of Marcelo Mazzetto and Kirill Kolomyts rolled to an 8-1 victory over St. Bonaventure's Chris Post and Diego Valdenegro. UB won the point when the number three team of Mitch Zenaty and Vusa Hove knocked off Oscar Yanez and Luis Guevara by an 8-4 margin. UB's number two team of Wojciech Starakiewicz and George Tibil also picked up a win with an 8-5 decision over Enric Larregola and Mikhail Sudakov.

The Bulls rolled to wins in all six singles matches although the Bonnies did not go quietly. Hove, at number five, started the singles sweep with a "double bagel" win over Juan Garcia, 6-0, 6-0. Starakiewicz needed three sets to defeat Valdenegro in the number one match, 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. In the number two match, Mazzetto scored a straight sets win over Larregola posting a 7-4 win in the second-set tiebreaker for the 6-2, 7-6 (4) decision. Larregola led the breaker, 4-1, before Mazzetto stormed back to take the next six points and close out the victory for the Bulls.

"I'm happy with the effort of our guys today," said head coach Lee Nickell. Nickell was especially proud of how his doubles teams responded after being unable to win the opening point in yesterday's 4-3 win over Toledo. "We made great strides in doubles today."

The win for the Bulls was the first over the Bonnies since the 2006 season. UB had lost 4-3 decisions to St. Bonaventure in its two prior meetings in 2008 and 2009.

UB is now 4-0 when playing at home this season. They have a pair of tough home matches coming next weekend when they face Western Michigan, the defending Mid-American Conference champion, on Saturday, April 3 and regionally-ranked Binghamton on April 4.

Buffalo 7, St. Bonaventure 0
Doubles
1 Marcelo Mazzetto/Kirill Kolomyts (UB) d. Chris Post/Diego Valdenegro (SBU), 8-1
2 Wojciech Starakiewicz/George Tibil (UB) d. Enric Larregola/Mikhail Sudakov (SBU), 8-5
3 Mitch Zenaty/Vusa Hove (UB) d. Oscar Yanez/Luis Guevara (SBU), 8-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1 Wojciech Starakiewicz (UB) d. Diego Valdenegro (SBU), 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
2 Marcelo Mazzetto (UB) d. Enric Larregola (SBU), 6-2, 7-6 (4)
3 Kirill Kolomyts (UB) d. Mikhail Sudakov (SBU), 6-2, 6-4
4 George Tibil (UB) d. Oscar Yanez (SBU), 6-1, 7-5
5 Vusa Hove (UB) d. Juan Garcia (SBU), 6-0, 6-0
6 Alex Kalinin (UB) d. Luis Guevara (SBU), 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 5, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1