HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 21, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team capped its most successful season in program history last weekend with their first-ever NCAA Championship Regional Finals appearance, but not every Duck can call it a season just yet.

Freshman Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and senior Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) will compete as a doubles pairing at the NCAA Individual Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich. from Thursday, May 23-Saturday, May 25.  The top 16 duos in the nation (four from each region) were selected just prior to the start of the team championship last week and will be seeded at the conclusion of the tournament on Wednesday, May 22.  The top 32 singles players (eight from each region) will also be competing at the tournament.

NCAA Individual Championships

Bracket

The Ducks will face the top seed in the tournament, Nicholas Ballou and Raymond Worley of California Lutheran University.  The Kingsmen pairing posted a 20-2 record this spring, while Ballou ran the table at 21-0 at first singles, also earning the top seed in the singles bracket.

Heinrich has already pulled in one major honor as he was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rookie of the Year in the Northeast region.  The first-year was arguably the top freshman in the nation, as he is ranked higher in his region than each of the three other recipients.

Heinrich Named Northeast Rookie of the Year

Heinrich and Rosensteel, already the first players in program history to represent the Ducks at the individual championships, also have the opportunity to become the program's first All-Americans.  The pairing can reach All-America status in one of three ways – earn a Top 4 seed in the doubles tournament, win one match at the tournament or finish in the Top 10 in the final ITA rankings, which will be released on June 6. 

The duo, which hold a 21-3 record this spring, boosted their already-impressive résumé at the team championships with three victories in as many matches, including knocking off No. 3 Amherst College's first doubles squad.  The two did not play together in the fall but still won their first match of the year at No. 18 Carnegie Mellon University as well as posting victories versus No. 23 Swarthmore College, No. 1 Kenyon College, No. 20 MIT, No. 27 Skidmore College, No. 30 The College of New Jersey and No. 22 University of Mary Washington, falling only to No. 5 Bowdoin College (9-7), No. 9 Middlebury College (8-4) and NYU (8-5) on a frigid evening with severe winds.

The Ducks ended their season as a team having advanced farthest in the NCAA Championship in program history and one win shy of the all-time program record of 18 (set in 2009-10) with a 17-8 record, with all eight losses coming at the hands of national top-27 opponents.  Stevens picked up its first-ever wins over ranked opponents in No. 30 TCNJ and No. 22 Mary Washington in the Second Round while shattering the individual records books despite playing by far their most difficult schedule ever, which included 10 top-30 opponents.

Rosensteel and senior Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) end their careers as the first- and second-most successful doubles players in program history, having won 80 and 73 matches, respectively (many together as a pairing over their first three seasons).  Rosensteel lifted the program record for career combined wins (singles and doubles) to a lofty 161, topping Assistant Coach Arik Zeevy's previous mark of 134, which Tasaki matched.  Rosensteel also holds the singles mark with 81 wins, topping Zeevy's 68, while Tasaki ranks third all-time with 60.  The Ducks' captain also tied for the fourth-best career win percentage at singles with an 81-24, while Heinrich's 24-5 record (.828) now ranks third all-time. 

Several Ducks set single-season marks as well, with Heinrich and Rosensteel taking sole possession of first place on the all-time doubles pairing list with 21 victories.  The duo's win percentage also ranks fifth all-time, while Heinrich's overall doubles win percentage of .813 (with Tasaki in the fall season) ranks third.  Heinrich's 26 total doubles victories this year are the most ever in a single season, while Rosensteel's 22 and Tasaki's 21 rank second and third in history. 

Heinrich also becomes the all-time career doubles win percentage leader, with Tasaki and Rosensteel ranking third (.753) and fourth (.725), while the doubles pairing of Heinrich and Rosensteel ranks first all-time with an .875 win percentage, with Foran and Tasaki ranking third (.750) and Smith and Tisdale coming in at seventh (.647).  Heinrich and Rosensteel also tied for second in single-season singles wins, with 24 each (Rosensteel is the all-time leader with a 27-1 record in 2009-10).  Head Coach Steve Gachko  finishes his eighth season as the program's winningest coach, with 121 career victories, and a .708 win percentage, which ranks first all-time among those who coached more than 26 total matches.

Heinrich and Rosensteel will begin tournament play on Thursday, May 23 at approximately 4 p.m.