UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO ATHLETICS
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo men’s tennis team improved to 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference and 9-8 overall with a 6-1 victory over Binghamton on Friday at the Miller Tennis Center. The Bulls dominated doubles action, while winning five of six matches in singles.
Buffalo scored a pair of 6-2 victories in doubles as it clinched the point in under 30 minutes. UB’s number one team of Vidit Vaghela and Petr Vodak, who are currently ranked #64 in the nation in doubles, won their match 6-2 as did Buffalo’s number two team of Villhelm Fridell and Hao Sheng Koay. Ethan Nittolo and Matthew Johnsonwere leading 5-3 at three when the point was clinched.
Fridell had little trouble in his singles match as he recorded an easy 6-1, 6-0 win at three to give the Bulls the 2-0 lead. Nittolo then won at second singles, 6-3, 6-2, while Koay followed that up a 6-4, 6-4 win at one, which clinched the match for the Bulls.
Binghamton won the contest played at fifth singles, but the Bulls fought back at both four and six to come away with three-set wins. Vodak won his opening set in a tiebreaker, 8-6, before losing the second set, 6-2. With the match already decided, he went on a late run to win the third-set super tiebreaker, 10-6. Johnson lost his opening set 7-5, but then fought back to win the final two sets, 6-4, 6-4, respectively.
“We came out really strong in doubles today, but I don’t think we had our best stuff overall in singles, however we found a way to come out with wins in five of the six matches and that says a lot about the fight of this group,” said assistant coach George Tibil. “Binghamton is a tough team and we have had some battles with them in the past so it was good to get this win and now it is time to focus on tomorrow.”
The Bulls remain home tomorrow afternoon when they will face the Toledo Rockets at the Miller Tennis Center at 1pm. Earlier this season, UB defeated Toledo, 6-1.
Doubles
- #64 Vidit Vaghela/Petr Vodak (UB) def. Kushaan Nath/Tiago Lourenco (BING), 6-2
- Villhelm Fridell/Hao Sheng Koay (UB) def. Alejandro Pena/Inigo Saez (BING), 6-2
- Ethan Nittolo/Matthew Johnson (UB) led Ludovico Cestarollo/Valentin Bouchet (BING), 5-3
Singles
- Hao Sheng Koay (UB) def. Ludovico Cestarollo (BING), 6-4, 6-4
- Ethan Nittolo (UB) def. Kushaan Nath (BING), 6-3, 6-2
- Villhelm Fridell (UB) def. Tiago Lourenco (BING), 6-1, 6-0
- Petr Vodak (UB) def. Sebastian Quiros (BING), 7-6 (6), 2-6, 10-6
- Inigo Saez (BING) def. Vidit Vaghela (UB), 6-4, 7-5
- Matthew Johnson (UB) def. Alejandro Pena (BING), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
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