Box score

HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 24, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team finally picked up the program's first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent, beating undefeated No. 30 The College of New Jersey, 6-3, on Wednesday afternoon at the CPA Tennis Courts.

Stevens improves to 12-7 with the huge victory, with all seven losses having come to teams ranked within the top 27 in the nation.  TCNJ drops its first match of the year in its regular season finale, falling to 14-1.  The Ducks swept all three doubles matches as well as first through third singles in the win.

The win is not only a landmark one for the men's tennis program, but crucial with regards to regional ranking and NCAA Tournament seeding.  While the Ducks are unlikely to make an appearance in the penultimate ITA Division III Men's Tennis National Rankings on May 2, they have made a strong case for inclusion in the Northeast region's Top 10, having beaten then-No. 13 NYU three weeks ago, No. 12 Vassar last week and now TCNJ, ranked No. 8 and which defeated current-No. 9 Trinity College (Conn.) last month.  With a pair of tight 6-3 losses at then-No. 20 MIT and No. 27 Skidmore College also on their résumé, the Ducks will be sure to garner some serious attention should they qualify for the NCAA Tournament after the Empire 8 Championship next weekend (May 4-5).

The Ducks jumped out to an early lead during doubles play as senior Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) and freshman Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) went up 5-0 on a pair of breaks at second doubles while freshman Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and senior Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.), the No. 3-ranked doubles pairing in the Northeast region, also got an early break to take a 3-1 lead at ones over the No. 10 team in the Northeast in Marc Nichols and Howard Telson.  Both duos went on to lock up 8-6 victories to put Stevens ahead, 2-0, while freshman Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) and junior Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) stayed on serve nearly straight through their match at threes, finally going up a break at 8-7 and serving for the match.  Although they were broken right back and forced into a tiebreaker, the tandem managed to pull out the 7-5 win to give the Ducks a commanding 3-0 lead heading into singles play.

TCNJ started to claw back into the match as Tisdale fell at fifth singles, 6-1, 6-0, but Heinrich won his 20th match of the year at first singles, 6-3, 6-1, shortly after to put the Ducks within one point of clinching the overall match.  Meanwhile, Rosensteel and Foran found themselves down a set apiece at second and fourth singles, but leading by a break in the second set, while Tasaki took control of third singles with a first-set victory and Smith battled to a 10-8 tiebreaker loss in the first set at sixth singles.  Half an hour later, Tasaki closed out third singles, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch the victory for Stevens.

With the match already in hand, the Ducks had no intention of letting up as Rosensteel and Foran both forced third-set tiebreakers, with Rosensteel taking his at second singles (4-6, 6-3, 10-7) while Foran fell, 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 at #3.  Smith held serve through the second set but again fell in the tiebreaker, 8-6, for TCNJ's third point in the Ducks' 6-3 victory.

Head Coach Steve Gachko and the Ducks (12-7, 6-0 Empire 8) will close out their regular season schedule as they host Empire 8 foe Nazareth College (6-9, 5-1) on Saturday, April 27 at noon the CPA Tennis Courts.  As always, follow our Twitter feeds, @StevensDucks and @Ducks_Tennis, for live updates throughout the match.