Men's tennis goes 2-1 on weekend road trip

The men's tennis team responded from an unsettling Saturday loss to finish its weekend on a high note Sunday.

The No. 65 Bulls (7-3) went 2-1 on the road this weekend, defeating Bryant (9-7, 1-0 Northeast Conference) Friday and Boston (5-5, 2-0 Patriot League) Sunday, both by scores of 5-2. Buffalo lost to Brown (8-5), 7-0, Saturday.

The Bulls' lineup is struggling with injuries, which forced head coach Lee Nickell to insert senior captain Jason Shkodnik to the No. 2 position this past weekend. Shkodnik justified the role with a 6-0, 6-3 victory.

"I decided to put [Shkodnik] in at No. 2 singles today," Nickell said. "That's a really, really good win for him ... For him to step up in that match, it's a big [win]."

Buffalo continued its season of impressive doubles play by winning the doubles point Friday against Bryant. Sophomore Sergio Arevalillo provided the winning point on the fifth court, while junior Sebastian Ionescu prevailed on court two.

"[Bryant] put a target on our backs and gave it their best shot," Nickell said. "It was a tough, 5-2 match. We got done at 11 p.m. [Friday] and had to rebound for [Brown at 10 a.m. Saturday]."

The quick turnaround proved to be too much for the Bulls, as Brown swept Buffalo en route to a 7-0 Saturday win. After UB lost the doubles point - which included only the second loss of the year for duo Arevalillo and freshman Jonathan Hannestad - Brown rolled in singles.

"It was a weird match," Nickell said. "We were up breaks in three matches. We had an opportunity to win [Saturday] and we weren't playing our best."

Junior Damien David dropped his match against Justin To - Brown's top-ranked player - 6-3, 4-6 and 5-7. Ionescu also lost in three sets on court two, 6-4, 5-7 and 5-7.

Despite not having a perfect record over the weekend, Nickell was pleased with how his team fared, but he stressed the importance of closing matches better.

The Bulls continue on the road Tuesday at Central Florida (7-2) at noon followed by a match Wednesday against Southern Miss (7-7) at 10 a.m. in Orlando, Fla.

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