Men's tennis shows signs of success in Penn Invite

Last season, the men's tennis team won the Mid-American Conference regular season championship before falling in the MAC postseason championship game. With many of the same players returning, Buffalo has hopes of building upon last season to defend its title.

The Bulls traveled to Pennsylvania this weekend to take part in the Penn Invite. The fall tournament affects individual rankings, not team records.

Doubles play, which was inconsistent last season, proved to be strong for Buffalo over the course of the weekend.

In an intense match, sophomore Damien David and junior Ivan Vereshchaga ferociously fended off St. Josephs pair Jose Sierra and Alex Veronis, 8-6, in a tiebreaking set to advance to the semifinals.

However, the captivating play of Vereshchaga and David did not show up the following day (Sunday) as the Bulls' run of victories met a sudden halt. Princeton's Dan Davies and Zack McCourt outlast UB's pair, winning in doubles competition by an8-1 score.

"We competed very well; we made a lot of progress this fall and in college tennis, that is what the fall is for: developmental time," said head coach Lee Nickell. "Our young guys, older guys, all the guys have come together and made big strides in their game and have gotten better in the three or four weeks that we have been practicing."

Headlining singles play were juniors Jason Simon and Jason Shkodnik.

After back-to-back wins in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the weekend invite, Shkodnik found himself competing in the finals of the consolation round on Sunday. Delaware's Evan Andrews proved to be the plight of Shkodnik's singles run. Shkodnik fought hard but was defeated in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 11-9.

Simon knocked off Temple's Hicham Belkssir, 6-2, 6-1, followed by a third-set-super-tiebreaker win against Lehigh's Timur Chemykh, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8. Success in the finals was not the mantra of singles play, as Simon also fell - to Norfolk State's Daniel Grauel, 6-3, 6-4.

"We are a better team already than we were last year and it is an exciting group to work with," Nickell said. "This is by far the best group of guys we have had here in my four years. [It's] the hardest-working group that we have, so we feel like we're better prepared than we were last year to make another run."

Only time will tell if the 2012 Bulls can match the output of the 2011 team. The Bulls do not open team play until Jan. 26, but it was a good opportunity for the Bulls to test themselves against some of the nation's elite teams.

"This is a really good tournament for our guys to test themselves against some of the best teams," Nickell said. "It's always a great opportunity for all the guys to get out there and play some of the Ivy [League] schools and get some really good competition. It was a great experience for us especially, because that level is a little bit higher than what we face in the Mid-American Conference."

Buffalo's next match will be Thursday, Oct. 18 at the Northeast Regionals.

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