HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 16, 2008) – Freshman Jay Lee went 2-0 on the day by winning his matches at sixth singles and third doubles, but the Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team came up a little short as the Ducks fell to New York University by the final score of 6-3 on Wednesday in Hoboken, N.J. The loss snapped an eight-match winning streak for Stevens and lowered the team's record to 11-6 on the year. The Violets have now won three matches in a row and stand at 8-7 overall.
The Ducks entered Wednesday's non-conference match ranked No. 20 in the Northeast Region for Division III by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. NYU was 14th in the region. The rankings were released on Tuesday afternoon.
Stevens began the match against the Violets by winning two of three doubles contests. At first doubles, senior Ricky Bawa and sophomore Piotr Rusinkiewicz dropped an 8-6 decision to senior Mikhail Gurevich (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior Brett Levin (La Jolla, Calif.). In the second-doubles match, freshmen Zhi Wei Ko and Arik Zeevy posted an 8-5 win over junior Calvin Chou (Livingston, N.J.) and freshman Matthew Gross (Boca Raton, Fla.). Freshman Jason Ringstad and Lee defeated freshmen Michael Greene (Newton, Mass.) and Philip Rosenstein (London, England) by an 8-1 count at No. 3 doubles.
At first singles, Gurevich rallied after losing the first set to beat Ko 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. Chou was a straight-sets winner (6-2, 6-1) against Zeevy at No. 2 singles. Junior Craig Berger (Hewlett, N.Y.) overcame a 5-0 deficit in the first set to knock off Bawa by the score of 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 at third singles. Levin out-lasted Rusinkiewicz (6-1, 3-6, 6-2) at fourth singles. Sophomore Eugene Tsarevskiy (Brooklyn, N.Y.) knocked off Ringstad in two sets (6-4, 6-4) at No. 5 singles. Lee won his ninth match in a row and improved to 14-4 on the year with a 6-2, 7-5 win over sophomore P.J. Marranca (West Pittston, Pa.) at sixth singles.
The Ducks will have two days off to regroup before they host Alfred University on Saturday at noon. Stevens will also take on St. John Fisher College at home on Sunday at noon. The Ducks can complete a perfect 8-0 season during their first year in the Empire 8 with two wins this weekend.
