HOBOKEN, N.J.  (February 16, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team will open the spring portion of its 2012-13 schedule Sunday at No. 18 Carnegie Melon University in Allentown, Pa. The Ducks are coming off their third Empire 8 title in three years and a second-straight trip to the second round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship.
 
Leading the Ducks this year is senior captain Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.). Rosensteel has earned Empire 8 Player of the Year honors the last three years and is ranked 20th in the Northeast coming into 2013. He is fifth all-time in wins with 57 and tops the Ducks' record books in single-season doubles wins with teammate Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.). Rosensteel is already No. 4 in doubles wins and his career won-lost percentage of .699 is third. He is a three-time all-conference performer and reached the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Tournament this fall. The East Windsor, N.J. native has looked on top of his game and should be playing at a high level from the start of the season.
 
Tasaki is another senior that will be featured at the top of an incredibly deep Stevens lineup. Tasaki has had an excellent career and hopes to make a great run in his final season. He came into the preseason in excellent shape and will benefit from the depth of the roster. Tasaki tops the record book in individual single-season wins as a doubles player, is currently 10th in program history in singles wins, while checking in at No. 6 in doubles triumphs. He is a three-time All-Empire 8 performer.
 
“Chris has been one of our toughest competitors on the court, and his preparation for his last spring has been clearly evident from the start of this season,” said head coach Steve Gachko (Hoboken, N.J.). “Chris leads our team by example and I have no doubt he will once again be a big part of our success. We will also be looking to Shota to step up with a leadership role and set an example for the young guys. He came into the season in great shape and the sky is the limit for him to make this season his most special yet.”
 
Rounding out the senior class is Brian Liebeskind (Basking Ridge, N.J.). Liebeskind is in his second season with the team and will be valuable to the previously mentioned depth on the squad. He will earn key starts in conference matches and continue to push teammates in practice. Liebeskind also shines in the classroom as a Civil Engineering major.
 
Junior Cole Liguori (Toms River, N.J.) is a three-year veteran and has been making improvements throughout his time on Castle Point. Ligouri has been a member of two conference title teams, and like Liebeskind, should see important matches in conference tilts.
 
Junior Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) will be joining the team in March after two successful seasons in 2009-10 and 2011-12. Smith is a member of the nationally-ranked Ducks' swimming program and had 19 combined wins in singles and doubles last year. Smith, a member of the Empire 8 Presidents' List as well as the Stevens President's List, will look to crack into the starting-six and see important matches for the Ducks.
 
Sophomore Nicholas Rosasco (Alpine, N.J.) will look to build upon a great freshman season that saw him go 11-8 in singles and 17-8 in doubles. Rosasco earned Empire 8 Rookie of the Year honors and should see starts out of the five and six singles slots as well as No. 3 doubles. The Alpine, N.J. native is one of the team's most athletic players and will be key as the Ducks navigate through the toughest schedule in the program's history.
 
Sophomore Spencer Lin (Princeton, N.J.) is another player that adds to the depth of an excellent roster. He is in his second season with the team and recently was honored as a member of the Stevens President's List. He is a Chemical Biology major.
 
Sophomore Daniel Szwarc (Metuchen, N.J.) tallied 10 wins in singles play and 11 more in doubles for the Ducks as a rookie and will look to improve upon those marks in his second year on the squad. Szwarc is a great team player, bringing superb work ethic and energy to the program on a daily basis.
 
Head Coach Steve Gachko (Hoboken, N.J.) has brought in one of – if not the best recruiting class in the history of the program. Freshman Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) should slot right into the top half of the singles lineup and is currently ranked 23rd in the Northeast. He is a strong, well-rounded player and has already emerged as a leader within the team.
 
Freshman Ben Foran (Whitefish, Bay, Wis.) is another talented rookie that should find his way into the top half of the singles lineup. Foran is a great athlete with an explosive game and should be an extremely exciting player to watch throughout his career, already proving his ability with some signature wins this fall.
 
Freshmen Jacob Thigpen (Birmingham, Ala.) and Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) are two players that will round out the freshman class and add depth right away for Stevens, with Tisdale earning a doubles nod with Rosasco early in the season.
 
“This freshman class has already emerged as a very hard working, committed group, added Gachko. “They quickly bought into the team philosophy and culture, and we are very excited to see them grow and develop.”
 
As mentioned above, Coach Gachko has put forth a remarkably challenging schedule featuring six institutions in the national rankings and 10 in the regional ranks. The Ducks will open with a neutral-site match against Carnegie Melon Sunday before visiting Haverford College on February 27. The Ducks will be looking to avenge an 8-1 loss to the Fords last year that saw three singles players go the distance in tough defeats.
 
The Ducks will then visit Swarthmore College – the 23rd ranked team in the nation – on March 2 before squaring off against No. 6 Bowdoin College and No. 2 Kenyon College in Pomona, Calif. on the team's Spring Break trip. Stevens fell to the Garnet last year with the meetings against Bowdoin and Kenyon being the first in program history.
 
Stevens will play the University of Rochester on March 13 in its final match out west before returning to the Northeast and Cambridge, Mass. for a tilt with Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, the Ducks will be looking for a bit of revenge as the Engineers ended Stevens' 2012 NCAA Tournament run with a 5-1 victory back on May 11. The Ducks will head to New London, Conn. where they will do battle with the United States Coast Guard Academy on March 24 and then cross the Hudson River for New York University in their first April showdown.
 
Stevens will visit St. John Fisher College and Alfred University on April 6 and then travel to Saratoga Springs for a date with 22nd-ranked Skidmore. Stevens will then welcome Ithaca College, Elmira College and Vassar College to Hoboken April 14 and April 17, before hitting the road for a visit to No. 14 Middlebury College.
 
April 20 and 21 will be matches at E8 rivals Utica College and Hartwick College, with the Ducks hosting The College of New Jersey and Nazareth College on April 24 and 27 to close out the regular season.
 
The Empire 8 Championship is slated for May 4 and 5 at the Stevens Tennis Courts.
 
“We have worked hard over the years to put ourselves in a position to schedule the top teams in DIII,” said Gachko. “In order for us to take this program to the next level, these are the teams we have to go through.”
 
Gachko and former Duck standout and current assistant coach Arik Zeevy (Hoboken, N.J.) are hoping for another big season. After the challenging regular season, the hopes are for a fourth-straight Empire 8 title and the deepest run through the NCAA Tournament the program has ever seen. Stevens has reached the second round each of the last two years.
 
“We have a tough and long road ahead, but we couldn't be more excited to get started on this journey,” commented Coach Gachko. “The team has been preparing for this opportunity since we finished up in fall.  We are putting ourselves in the position to break into the national rankings; now it's time to get to work.”
 
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