Men's Tennis Slips 4-3 to Northern Illinois in Home Finale

Sunday, April 21

10 am

Northern Illinois

Men's Tennis Slips 4-3 to Northern Illinois in Home Finale

4/21/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to visiting Northern Illinois on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale at the Miller Tennis Center in Williamsville. With the loss, the Bulls are now 9-9 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-American Conference as the league championship begins next weekend.

The Bulls scored their three wins in singles play. Senior Vusa Hove continued his strong play of late in the final home match of his UB career as he downed Northern Illinois' Axel Lagerlof in three sets in the number one match. Hove won the contest 7-5, 4-6, 6-0 to reclaim the team's singles victory lead with 18 wins.

Also picking up straight sets wins for the Bulls were Sebastian Ionescu at number three and Pablo Alvarez at number four. Ionescu defeated Frederic Cadeaux 6-4, 6-2 while Alvarez defeated Jovan Zejkovic by a 6-3, 6-2 margin.

The loss drops the Bulls into a three-way tie for the second seed in the upcoming MAC Championships, which Northern Illinois will host Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29. UB, NIU and Western Michigan each finished with 3-2 MAC records with the teams each going 1-1 in head-to-head competition with the other two squads. UB claimed the number three seed and will face second-seeded Western Michigan in Friday's semifinals.

Regardless of seeding, the Bulls will have to regroup to make a run at the league tournament title. "We're heading into the tournament with the underdog status. That's where we are now," said head coach Lee Nickell. "Knowing we're the underdog maybe we can loosen up."

Northern Illinois 4, Buffalo 3

Doubles

1 Axel Lagerlof/Dor Amir (NIU) d. Damien David/Vusa Hove (UB), 8-6

2 Simon Formont/Max Phillips (NIU) d. Akhil Mehta/Sebastian Ionescu (UB), 9-8 (4)

3 Frederic Cadeaux/Jovan Zejkovic (NIU) d. Yevgeniy Jason Shkodnik/Sergio Arevalillo (UB), 8-5

Order of finish: 1,3,2

Singles

1 Vusa Hove (UB) d. Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 7-5, 4-6, 6-0

2 Dor Amir (NIU) d. Damien David (UB), 6-4, 6-2

3 Sebastian Ionescu (UB) d. Frederic Cadeaux (NIU), 6-4, 6-2

4 Pablo Alvarez (UB) d. Jovan Zejkovic (NIU), 6-3, 6-2

5 Max Phillips (NIU) d. Sergio Arevalillo (UB), 6-2, 0-6, 6-2