University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 5, 2005

Baseball

St. Bonaventure 5, UB 2 (Big Four Tournament)
UB 10, Niagara 3 (Big Four Tournament)
Kent State 9, UB 2
Kent State 7, UB 3
Kent State 25, UB 12

After a week of wet weather cost UB three home games, the team finally got in a full slate of five games in Western New York. However, the squad dropped four of the five games, falling nearly out of contention for the MAC playoffs with three conference series left.

On Tuesday, The Bulls lost to St. Bonaventure, 5-2, on April 26 in Dunn Tire Park in the first round of the second annual Big 4 Tournament. The Bulls kept the Bonnies close until the fifth inning when two Bonnies runs put them up 4-2. From there, the defending Atlantic 10 champions cruised.

The next day, the Bulls rebounded by beating Niagara, 10-3, behind eight strong innings of five-hit baseball from Tony Kurtz. The freshman was assisted by 14 UB hits, six walks and four hit batters as the team scored in five innings.

The Bulls' offensive good fortune didn't last into the weekend, however, as defending MAC champion Kent State allowed just six hits on Friday to cruise to a 9-2 win.

After a rainout on Saturday, the teams met for a doubleheader on Sunday, in which Kent State's offense never let the Bulls stay in a game. In the first game, the Golden Flashes scored five runs in the first three innings to cruise to a 7-3 win before scoring 23 in the first five innings in the nightcap to win, 25-12.

Softball

UB 3, St. Bonaventure 1; UB 7, St. Bonaventure 0
Bowling Green 1, UB 0 (8); Bowling Green 8, UB 0 (5)
Bowling Green 2, UB 1

UB began the week with a non-conference doubleheader sweep of visiting St. Bonaventure, 3-1 and 7-0, on April 27. Freshman Lacy Schneider was 2-for-3 in game one, while freshman Marcy Hansen was 2-for-3 in game two to lead the Bulls' offense. UB had just three hits in game one before exploding for seven hits in game two. The Bulls took advantage of St. Bonaventure's five errors, five passed balls and one wild pitch on the day to extend their winning streak to seven games, the longest in the program's history.

Following the sweep of St. Bonaventure, the Bulls' seven-game winning streak came to an abrupt end when they dropped all three games of their weekend series at Bowling Green. The Falcons earned two shutout wins in Saturday's doubleheader—1-0 in eight innings and 8-0 in five innings—and then finished things off with a 2-1 win on Sunday.

The Bulls will conclude the regular season with a three-game series against Ohio at Nan Harvey Field on Saturday and Sunday.

Tennis

MEN'S

UB 4, Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne 0 (MAC Tournament)
Western Michigan 4, UB 0 (MAC Tournament)

For the second year in a row, the Bulls reached the semifinal round of the MAC tournament, dumping Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 4-0, in the first round before falling to homestanding Western Michigan by the same 4-0 margin in the semifinals.

UB, the third of six seeds in the tournament, completes the season with a 9-9 overall mark.

The Bulls wasted little time of disposing of the Mastodons on April 28, scoring a pair of easy doubles victories to open the match with a 1-0 lead. UB's first doubles tandem of Nick Zieziula and Yules Hadisubroto defeated Landry Nzudie and Nabil Mourad Filho, 8-2. The Bulls clinched the point when the number three team of Albert Alant and Matt Kennedy downed Sam Rocke and Daniel Jackson, 8-3. Once the doubles point had been secured, the number-two match was stopped before completion.

UB scored the three necessary singles wins in straight sets to close the match. Zieziula rolled past Nzudie, 6-0, 6-2, at number one. Mike Rockman, at number two, knocked off Mourad Filho, 6-0, 6-3. Fourth singles player Josh Liederman defeated Ian Leonhardt in convincing fashion, 6-2, 6-2.

On Friday, the Bulls came up with the short end of the score as they were unable to get past a much stronger WMU lineup. UB opened the match with losses in the numbers two and three doubles matches by identical 8-2 scores. The number-two combination of Liederman and Alejandro Galindo, playing together for the first time this season, lost to Bryan Norville and Jose Orozco. Kennedy and Alant fell to Jeff French and Tim Bradshaw.

The Bulls were bounced out of the tournament with singles losses at numbers three, four and five, all by convincing margins. Hadisubroto, at number three, lost to Brady Crosby, 6-1, 6-0. Liederman fell to Bradshaw by an identical score at number four. Kennedy, at number five, claimed a pair of games in his 6-1, 6-1 loss to Alex Birchmeier. The remainder of the matches were stopped before conclusion.

WOMEN'S

Miami (OH) 4, UB 1 (MAC Tournament)

An incredible season in which UB achieved its highest seeding in the MAC tournament came to an end Friday afternoon as the Bulls fell to Miami (OH), 4-1, in the quarterfinal round at Ball State University. UB finishes the season 8-7 overall after compiling four MAC wins in the regular season.

The Bulls were seeded sixth among the 10 MAC schools and avoided the first-round matches on April 28. They opened Friday's play with a doubles victory, but were unable to pick up the second point. UB's top duo of Miglena Nenova and Kristen Ortman scored a convincing 8-2 win over Linda Jirouskova and Katrina Lomidze.

The second and third doubles matches went to the RedHawks; however both were close as UB fell by the minimum two-game margin. The number two doubles squad of Andreea Novaceanu and Tina Jacob fell to Remy Swain and Leda Pesatova, 9-7. In the number-three match, UB's Katrin Fischer and Sabrina Carmona were defeated by Victoria Pulido and Kelly Douple, 8-6.

UB picked up its lone point in singles play as Nenova scored a "double-bagel" win over Lomidze, 6-0, 6-0.

Miami (17-6) scored the three necessary points to clinch the match at numbers one, three and five.

Track and Field

UB women set four records at Gina Relays

Four new school records were set as UB competed at the 39th Annual Gina Relays at Hillsdale College. There was no scoring in the meet, which featured schools from throughout Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, and included several MAC squads.

The UB women won two events and established records in three others. Vanessa Roelofson scored a first-place finish in the javelin throw with a toss of 144-9 (44.11m), while Faith Thompson was victorious in the hammer throw at 191-2 (58.27m). Thompson also finished second in the shot put at 49-7.25 (15.12m).

Sarah Vance had a solid day for the Bulls with a pair of third-place showings and a seventh-place finish in her throwing events. Vance broke her week-old record in the discus with a toss of 157-4 (47.97m) to place third in the event. The throw bettered her effort from the UB Open by nine inches. Vance also established a season-best in the hammer throw with a 174-3 (53.12m) effort, adding nearly four feet to her previous best. She also placed seventh behind Thompson in the shot put at 45-11.25 (14.00m).

Celestine Coney broke her own record in the 400-meter hurdles. Coney finished second overall in 1:00.63, slicing her old mark set at the Bucknell Bison Open on April 16 by three-quarters of a second. The time also earned Coney a spot in the NCAA East Regional meet later this season.

Jen Jezorski also picked up a second-place finish and lowered her season-best time in the 1500-meters. She clocked a 4:29.27, cutting two-tenths of a second from her personal record set at the Bison Open.

Kelli O'Brien was equally impressive in her distance event. O'Brien broke her own record with a seventh-place showing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. She crossed the finish line in 11:04.50, cutting seven-tenths of a second from her previous record set at the Raleigh Relays on March 26.

UB sprinters also posted strong finishes. Patrice Coney was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.52 seconds and seventh in the 200-meters in 25.38 seconds. Stacy Downer lowered her season-best time in the 100-meters to 12.13 seconds for a sixth-place finish.

UB's 4x400 team of Downer, Patrice Coney, Vashone Wallace and Celestine Coney broke its own school record, finishing second overall in 3:44.77, while the 4x100 squad of Ventrone, Charrise Everett, Wallace and Downer took third in its race in 47.86 seconds.

In the men's meet, Todd Joki took home a second-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.40 seconds. Joki also earned a season-best mark in the long jump with his fourth-place finish of 23-8 (7.21m) and placed sixth in the 200-meters in 22.24 seconds.

Brian Heim also had a second-place finish in his race—the 400-meter hurdles—clocking a 53.42. Dan McKenna finished seventh in the 1500-meters in 3:53.12.

In the field, Gary Asbach established season bests in both his events. Asbach finished third in the triple jump at 45-11.25 (14.00m) while also taking seventh, behind Joki, in the long jump at 23-0.50 (7.02m). Mike Giordano established a season best in the shot put with a toss of 52-0.50 (15.86m) to finish fifth, while David Eckert finished eighth in the pole vault at 14-6 (4.42m), his season best.

The men's 4x400 relay team of Joki, Paul Riley, Chris McClure and Heim placed fourth in 3:21.94.

UB's squads will compete at the Akron Open this weekend.

Rowing

Novice 8 lone UB winner at Harvey Cup

UB and Eastern Michigan renewed their Harvey Cup rivalry with the Eagles taking three of four races, including the Harvey Cup race—the varsity eight—to retain the title.

The lone Bulls' victory came in the novice eight race as UB crossed the finish line in 6:53.41, nearly 20 seconds better than EMU (7:12.25).

In the closest finish of the four races, UB's lightweight four squad fell to EMU by less than two seconds. UB finished in 7:29.31 to the Eagles' 7:27.56.

In the Harvey Cup race between the varsity eights, UB finished in 6:43.04 to Eastern Michigan's 6:34.07.

The second varsity eight also fell to the Eagles, finishing the 2,000-meter course in 6:48.86, seven seconds behind EMU's 6:41.85.

The Bulls will travel to Worcester, Mass., for this weekend's Metro Championships. UB finished fifth in last season's overall team standings at the meet.