Not too much can explain a phenomenon like winning three straight road games, then coming back to Buffalo to lose on home ground.
In fact, the road record of 6-2 for the men's tennis team this season outshines its 2-3 home record by a considerable margin. Most recently, the Manhattan College Jaspers (7-5) continued the uncharacteristic trend of Buffalo home losses with a 5-2 win over the Bulls last Saturday at the Village Glen Tennis Center.
"We knew right off the bat that we would be facing a real strong team," said head coach Russ Crispell. "We played them last year at Columbia and got beat 7-0. They didn't lose anyone from last year and they also gained a new No. 1, so we knew we had our work cut out for us."
Manhattan set the tone for the day sweeping the three doubles games before heading into singles play. Although No. 2 junior Mike Rockman and No. 6 freshman Fred Duncan each won their singles games, Manhattan won the other four, leading the Jaspers to a decisive victory.
"I knew they were a pretty good team," Duncan said. "I transferred from St. Joseph and I knew Manhattan just had a close match with them. So I talked to a couple of my friends on the team to see what I could do against their No. 6 player and I think I played a pretty good match."
The Jaspers have won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) the last three years in a row, earning a trip to the NCAA tournament each time. On Saturday, Buffalo got to see firsthand the level of competition that can be expected in top-ranked play.
However, according to Crispell, this is exactly the type of competition that is necessary in order to compete in the Mid-American Conference. Western Michigan is ranked in the top 30 in the country, making the MAC a difficult place to compete.
Another commonly overlooked issue that Crispell pointed out is how the realm of international players can have an effect on any given team.
"When you're top 30 like in Western Michigan's case, half the team are some of the top players from around the world," Crispell said. "It's something like 60 personal international across the board and we're no exception here at UB. A team like Manhattan, they have four kids who in their respective countries were on Davis Cup teams."
The Davis Cup, a premier international competition in which countries all over the world send their best players to compete, has been home to professional players such as Andy Roddick and Roger Federer who represented the United States and Switzerland, respectively.
Regardless of any foreign talent that might hinder Buffalo's progress on the way to the MAC title, another long road trip is up next for the Bulls, so the focus is placed squarely on the future competition.
"For the rest of the season, personally, I am just going to be incredibly focused," Rockman said. "Tennis is my main priority right now and I'm going to take each match one at a time and do the best I can to prepare for each one."
Before turning his focus to the long road trip coming up, Crispell took a second to reflect on his time at UB, being that Saturday was his last home game as the coach of the Buffalo men's tennis team.
"The most difficult thing is that I can draw from what we've accomplished, but it's the things that I didn't get that I thought I would coming in as a freshman coach," Crispell said. "I didn't bring home a MAC title and also I thought I'd be able to bring in a new tennis center, but all you can do is try to be the best coach you can and try to give your guys the best opportunities."
Although Crispell will be retiring at the end of the year, he will stay with UB as a coordinator of Outdoor Pursuits. The road trip begins with a divisional game against Ball State, Saturday, April 1 in Muncie, Ind., at 1 p.m.
