April 24, 2011

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Maksym Bariuk won in the top singles flight but it wasn't enough as the Northern Illinois men's tennis team fell, 6-1, at Buffalo on Sunday in their final match of the regular season.

"The story was similar to what it has been most of theseason," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "Our top three singles guys gave us a chance; we just need someone else to step up. Bryant (Poggensee-Wei) played pretty well in the first set today; we just needed to be a little better."

Buffalo swept the doubles point as Maksym Lagutin and Bariuk came close at number two, falling 8-5, and Axel Lagerlof and Roman Turtygin had chances at number one, but the Bulls overcame the effort of the NIU duos to take the early lead.

In singles play, Bartiuk defeated Wojceich Starakiewicz in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6, to win at number one. Lagerlof and Turtygin both earned 6-4 first set victories at two and three, respectively, before the Huskie pair both fell in the second set. Lagerlof and Turtygin then both fell in third-set super-tiebreakers. Lagerlof fell 10-8 at number two and Turtygin was outlasted 10-4 at flight three.

At number five singles, Poggensee-Wei pushed Buffalo's Jason Simon to the limit in the first set, 7-6, before being shutout in the second set.

The Bulls were also victorious at number four and six in singles play.

With the regular season complete, NIU will return to action on Thursday, April 28, when they play Ball State in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The tournament will take place in Kalamazoo, Mich., hosted by Western Michigan University.


Buffalo 6, Northern Illinois 1

Doubles
1 Wojceich Starakiewicz/Mitch Zenaty (UB) d. Axel Lagerlof/Roman Turtygin (NIU), 8-4
2 Marcelo Mazzetto/Travis Zappia (UB) d. Maksym Lagutin/Maksym Bartiuk (NIU), 8-5
3 George Tibil/Vusa Hove (UB) d. Bryant Poggensee-Wei/Tyler Stephens (NIU), 8-1

Singles
1 Maksym Bartiuk (NIU) d. Wojceich Starakiewicz (UB), 6-2, 7-6 (1)
2 Vusa Hove (UB) d. Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8)
3 George Tibil (UB) d. Roman Turtygin (NIU), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-4)
4 Marcelo Mazzetto (UB) d. Maksym Lagutin (NIU), 6-1, 6-1
5 Jason Simon (UB) d. Bryant Poggensee-Wei (NIU), 7-6 (3), 6-0
6 Mitch Zenaty (UB) d. Tyler Stephens (NIU), 6-2, 6-0