Northern Illinois
Bulls Claim First Place Following 5-2 Win at Northern Illinois
4/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
ROCKFORD, IL – In a battle of MAC unbeatens, the University at Buffalo men's tennis team prevailed scoring a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois on Sunday afternoon at the Rockford Boylan Tennis Center. The Bulls improved to 4-0 in league play and 9-8 overall while the Huskies fell to 19-7 and 3-1 in the MAC.
UB opened the match with two wins in the doubles competition. The number one duo of Damien David and Vusa Hove knocked off Dor Amir and Axel Lagerlof, 8-5, while UB's number two team of Wojciech Starakiewicz and Travis Zappia claimed an 8-4 win over Maksym Bartiuk and Roman Turtygin. UB dropped the number three match as the team of Yegeniy Jason Shkodnik and Alex Kalinin fell 8-6 to Frederic Cadieux and Maximilian Phillips.
The Bulls claimed the match with wins from their top four singles players, including three three-set victories in the top three contests. Both David and Starakiewicz needed to rally from first-set losses to claim their matches. David defeated Amir 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the number one contest, while Starakiewicz downed Lagerlof, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the number three match. Hove also won a three-set contest at number two, defeating Turtygin, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. Also scoring a singles victory was number four player Ivan Vereshchaga with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Bartiuk. Kalinin, at number five, and Shkodnik, at number six, were defeated in straight sets in their matches.
"Today was a good day for our program. We fought through adversity and beat a very good team," said UB head coach Lee Nickell. "We are looking forward to playing Ball State next weekend."
The Bulls make one final road trip for the regular season next weekend traveling to Muncie, IN to face Ball State on Saturday and IUPUI on Sunday.
Buffalo 5, Northern Illinois 2
Doubles
Damien David/Vusa Hove (UB) d. Dor Amir/Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 8-5
Wojciech Starakiewicz/Travis Zappia (UB) d. Maksym Bartiuk/Roman Turtygin (NIU), 8-4
Frederic Cadieux/Maximilian Phillips (NIU) d. Yegeniy Jason Shkodnik/Alex Kalinin (UB), 8-6
Singles
Damien David (UB) d. Dor Amir (NIU), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
Vusa Hove (UB) d. Roman Turtygin (NIU), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
Wojciech Starakiewicz (UB) d. Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
Ivan Vereshchaga (UB) d. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU), 6-0, 6-2
Frederic Cadieux (NIU) d. Alex Kalinin (UB), 6-1, 6-3
Maximilian Philips (NIU) d. Yevgeniy Jason Shkodnik (UB), 6-4, 6-2
