STAFF REPORTS
news@allwnynews.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team had an impressive performance against their Ivy League foes from Harvard on Saturday, but the Bulls fell just short, 4-3.
The Crimson took the doubles point with wins at one and three, but the Bulls fought tough at one, falling 6-4 to the #57 duo in the country. Villhelm Fridell and Petr Vodak, the reigning MAC Doubles Team of the Week, won their doubles contest, 6-4.
The two teams split the six singles matches with all of them either going into three sets or seeing a tiebreaker in the match. Filip Grbic won at third singles for the Bulls, 7-6, 6-3, while Vodak won at fifth singles, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. Sophomore Ethan Nittolo won his match at six singles, 4-6, 7-6, 6-0.
Harvard won at one and four and the match remained tied at 3-3 with second singles left out on the court. Harvard’s Jen Thirouin won the opening set 6-3 before Vidit Vaghela came back to win the second set 7-5. Vaghela was able to get an early break in the third to tie the set up at 3-3, but Thirouin won the final three games to clinch the set and the match.
“In my tenure as a coach I have seen a handful of matches that were this high-level on both ends of the court,” said head coach Lee Nickell. “I feel like today is exactly what we needed for our last run here in the Mid-American Conference. The competitive spirit was unbelievable. We hung with a tough Harvard squad and you have to give credit to them. However, we can build off of this and we know what we have to work on to get ready for Western Michigan and Toledo this upcoming weekend.”
The Bulls will remain on the road this upcoming weekend as they head to Western Michigan on Friday at 5:30pm, followed by a contest at Toledo on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
