Men's Tennis Completes Second Day at Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational
PRINCETON, NJ – The University at Buffalo's men's tennis team completed the second day of the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational by sending two players into the singles and doubles flight championships.
Sophomore Vusa Hove and junior Alex Kalinin won both their quarterfinal and semifinal matches in the D flight singles bracket to set up a meeting in Sunday's championship, however, the title will not be contested because the duo also qualified for the C flight doubles championship.
Hove scored a 6-3, 6-3 win over Penn's Lucas Andreika in the quarterfinals and then defeated Michael Lin of Princeton, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinal round. Kalinin also won both his matches in straight sets but was taken to the limit as he downed Columbia's Ian Laster, 7-6, 6-4, in the quarterfinals and Penn's Dmitry Bury, 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the semifinals.
Kalinin and Hove scored a doubles win over Columbia's Alex Lee and John Yetimoglu, 8-4, on Saturday. They will face Yale's Zach Dean and Tommy Ratchford on Sunday in the final.
George Tibil and Marcelo Mazzetto won their quarterfinal matches but were eliminated in the semifinal rounds in their brackets. Tibil, playing in the B flight, needed three sets to knock off Princeton's Alex Faust, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, but fell to Penn State's Russell Bader in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-3. Mazzetto, in the C flight, defeated Princeton's Ryan Kim, 6-4., 6-2, before falling to Coleman Crutchfield of Princeton, 6-4, 6-3.
Wojciech Starakiewicz fell in the quarterfinals of the A flight to Penn State's Bryan Welnetz in three sets, 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-3. Starakiewicz then fell in the Princeton's Matija Pecotic, again in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in his final match.
Playing in the D flight consolation bracket, Mitch Zenaty defeated top-seeded Sho Matusumoto of Columbia, 6-3, 7-5, but fell to Yale's Patrick Chase, 6-3, 6-2, in the consolation semifinal.
In doubles action, Mazzetto and Zenaty defeated Columbia's Cyril and Tizian Bucher, 8-2, but fell in the semifinal round to top-seeded Yohei Shoji and Alex Faust of Princeton, 8-5.