Tang & Wibler Reach Final Eight As Bulls Compete At ITA Northeast Regionals

Thursday, October 14

Philadelphia, PA

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ITA Regionals

Tang & Wibler Reach Final Eight As Bulls Compete At ITA Northeast Regionals

10/17/2021 12:38:00 PM | Men's Tennis

PHILADELPHIA, PA – The University at Buffalo men's tennis team competed at the ITA Northeast Regionals this past weekend, a performance that was highlighted by a run to the doubles quarterfinals by Simon Wibler and Cheng Tang.

Wibler and Tang rolled through the early rounds of the main doubles draw, winning their round of 64 match 8-2 and then scoring an 8-3 victory in the round of 32. They scored a huge upset on Saturday afternoon as they took down Harris Walker and Ronan Jachuck of Harvard, 8-5. The Harvard duo was ranked as one of the top eight seeds in the doubles tournament. The run for Wibler and Tang came to an end with an 8-3 loss on Sunday morning to a pair of players from St. John's. In earlier doubles action this week, Daniils Snaiders and Finn Macnamara lost 8-6 in their first match in the qualifiers.

In singles action, two Bulls got started on Thursday with qualifier action. Snaiders won his opening match in qualifiers 6-4, 6-1 before a second round defeat. Macnamara also competed in the qualifiers and lost his match 2-6, 6-4, 11-9. Macnamara had three match points but was unable to close it out.

In the main draw, three Bulls competed in the 128-member field. Tang was the lone Bull to make it out of the opening round as he recorded a 6-4, 6-0 win over Stijn Paardekooper of St. Bonaventure. Tang was matched up with Alex Kotzen of Columbia in the second round, ranked one of the top four players in the bracket and he lost, 6-1, 6-1.

Santiago Galan dropped his opening match in the main draw 6-3, 6-1 and Wibler lost his first match 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. Wibler was up a break in the third set but was unable to come away with the victory.

"Hopefully this weekend was eye opening for our team," said head coach Lee Nickell. "We let a few chances get away from us against really good players, and we need to get stronger mentally to handle momentum and close out matches. Simon and Rex played exceptional doubles yesterday and just couldn't replicate that today against St. John's. We will continue the quest for consistency in performance these next two weeks as we prepare for the Cleveland State tournament."

Buffalo returns to action on October 29 at the Cleveland State tournament.