Starakiewicz Reaches Finals at Cornell Invitational

ITHACA, NY – Junior Wojciech Starakiewicz scored a straight-sets victory on Saturday to reach the A-1 singles bracket final at the Cornell Invitational to highlight the University at Buffalo men's tennis team's competition on Saturday.

Starakiewicz, the number one seed in the flight, scored an easy 6-0, 6-0 victory over Cornell's Zhongming Chen to advance into Sunday's final against Cornell's Max Haskin. Haskin downed his Big Red teammate Jeremy Feldman in three sets in the bottom half of the bracket.

Sophomore Vusa Hove fell short in his quest for the A-2 singles title. The number four seed in the bracket dropped a 6-2, 7-6 decision to top-seed Andy Gauthier of Cornell in the semifinals. Hove will play in Sunday's third-place match against Cornell's Chris Song.

Junior Kristof Custers and freshman Jason Shkodnik earned spots in Sunday's consolation round finals in their respective brackets. Custers scored wins over Fairleigh Dickinson's Peter Skvarka and Yuri Gricheno to advance into the Sunday's A-2 consolation final where he will meet Duquesne's Steve Herchko. Shkodnik defeated Fairleigh Dickinson's Manuel Kaire, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a Sunday meeting with Duquesne's Matt Smith in the B consolation.

In doubles's play Hove and Mitch Zenaty defeated UB teammates Starakiewicz and Travis Zappia to claim third place in the A bracket. Zenaty and Hove downed Song and Chen of Cornell in the second round on Saturday, 8-3. The duo fell to Cornell's Mirza Kils and Evan McElwain, 8-4, in the semifinals. Starakiewicz and Zappia knocked off Cornell's Charles Quay and Haskin, 8-1, in their first match on Saturday and fell to Feldman and Gauthier of Cornell in the semifinals, 8-4.

Shkodnik and Custers reached the consolation final of the B doubles brackets. The duo lost their opening match to Heyward Drayton and Chris Kenney of Navy, 8-5, to send them into the consolation round where they downed Peter Nawara and Jared Karson of Cornell, 8-4. Shkodnik and Custers will face Fairliegh Dickinson's Kaire and Guillermo Paiz in the consolation final.