All-MAC Men's Tennis Awards Announced
BUFFALO, NY – The Mid-American Conference announced the yearly men's tennis awards from its Cleveland headquarters this morning and the University at Buffalo placed two players on the list as well as garnering Coach of the Year honors for Lee Nickell.
Sophomore Wojciech Starakiewicz was named to the All-MAC First Team while juniorMarcelo Mazzetto was selected to the All-MAC Second Team.
Starakiewicz, UB's number one singles player, compiled a 16-7 record, including an 11-6 mark in dual competitions, and was 17-6 in doubles play, primarily in the second slot. Following the fall tournament season, the transfer from Tulsa became the first men's tennis player in UB's Division I history to attain a national ranking as he started the spring campaign ranked 107th nationally and sixth in the Northeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. He was also awarded a number five seed for the ITA Regional championships, the highest ever for a UB player, but was unable to compete due to illness. Starakiewicz also earned All-MAC Tournament honors this past weekend.
Mazzetto, UB's number two singles player and part of the Bulls' top doubles combination, finished the 2009-10 season with a 17-12 singles record (11-9 in dual competition). Mazzetto and doubles partner Kirill Kolomyts went 4-0 against MAC competition during the regular season. Through three seasons with the Bulls, Mazzetto has posted 49 singles wins, ranking ninth in Division I history.
Nickell, in his first season with the Bulls, was selected by his peers as the league's Coach of the Year after guiding the Bulls to a 13-7 overall record, the most wins since 2001 and an undefeated 5-0 league record, earning the MAC's regular season title and top seed at the MAC Championships. A former assistant coach at Alabama and Fresno State, Nickell led the squad to first-time victories during the regular season over league foes Western Michigan and Ball State. UB also defeated Brown in the regular season opener, the first time that a UB squad had knocked off a team from the powerful Ivy League.
"I am very proud of Wojciech and Marcello for receiving these awards," said Nickell. "They put in enormous amounts of work to help this team achieve new heights, and they deserve to be recognized by the conference."
The Bulls reached the championship match of the MAC Tournament for the first time in school history, falling to five-time champion Western Michigan in the title match.