NEW YORK — The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team left it all on the court Saturday as the Bulls hung tough against one of the top teams in the nation before falling 6-1 at #19 Columbia. In singles play, the Bulls won first sets in four of the six matches.
The match begun with doubles where Columbia took the point by winning at one and three. UB’s duo of freshman Hao Sheng Koay and junior Vidit Vaghela won at second doubles, 6-4.
In singles, Koay got the lone victory for the Bulls at third singles, 6-4, 6-1, but UB had its chances winning the first set at two, five and six. Buffalo had its best chance at victory at second singles as Filip Grbic not only won the first set 6-4, but he had a match point in the second set before falling 7-5. Villhelm Fridell won his first set 6-3 at fifth singles and Ethan Nittolo won his first set at six in a tiebreaker, 7-6.
“Today was an amazing experience for this young group,” said head coach Lee Nickell. “We have spent the last week working on our mental toughness, and today we showed that we aren’t far off from doing some special things. Columbia is the standard in the Northeast having made two straight Sweet 16’s with wins over many major Power 5 schools. We won four first sets and had chances to turn the tide, and fell a few points short. I cannot wait to get back to work with the group and prepare for a great weekend at Army next weekend.”
The Bulls will return to action next Saturday at Army. UB will face the Black Knights at 8 a.m.
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