Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Buffalo
Men's Tennis comes close, but falls Buffalo
03/09/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Tennis
March 9, 2010
By Michael Benson
www.SIUSalukis.com
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Saluki men's tennis team came close in many matches, but was not able to pull through, as they fell to Buffalo, 6-1, Tuesday in Boca Raton, Fla.
Southern had two doubles matches determined by two points or less in the match, plus another two singles matches that went to third set tiebreakers.
"We played very well doubles today, but it didn't go our way like we wanted," said SIU head coach Dann Nelson. "We were very close to win at first doubles."
Posting the lone win for the Dawgs was senior Anton Leonenko in No. 5 singles, who defeated the Bulls' Alex Kalinin. After a slow start in the first half of the match, the Calgary, Canada, native stormed back to take the second set and force a winner-take-all final set. Leonenko would carry his momentum in to the third set and take the match 2-6, 6-3, 10-8.
"Anton Leonenko continues to play well," Nelson said. "After losing the first set and down 3-1 in the second, he came back and won in the third set tie-breaker."
Mpilo Migogo was also involved in a tight match - though he ended on the wrong side of the scoresheet. Upon quickly losing the first set to UB's Marcelo Mazzetto, the senior battled to a win in the next set. However, Migogo couldn't pull through, falling 6-0, 3-6, 11-9.
Doubles saw two more hotly contested matches, with both coming down to the final points.
Top doubles pitted Falk De Beenhouwer and Orhan Spahic against the Bulls' Wojciech Starakiewicz and Kirill Kolomyts - the Northeast Region's tenth best doubles team. The two first year Salukis battled hard, but were subdued in the end, falling 8-6.
No. 2 doubles was even closer between SIU's Brandon Florez and Chikara Kidera and Buffalo's Mazzetto and George Tibil. Yet, the Salukis emerged victorious, winning 8-7.
"This was definitely the best team we played this year and all the guys fought hard," Nelson said.
The Dawgs will play their second and final match in Florida tomorrow, when they battle the Florida Atlantic Owls in a 1 p.m. match.
Players Mentioned
