Box score

FLUSHING, N.Y. (April 3, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team edged out New York University, 5-4, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on a frigid and windy Wednesday evening in the first outdoor match of the spring.  The Ducks, ranked No. 14 in the ITA Northeast regional rankings last week, came into the match ranked just one spot behind the Violets.

Stevens improved to 4-5 this spring with the victory while NYU drops to 1-3 after their first match in over a month.

Senior Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) and freshman Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.), recently ranked the No. 7 doubles pairing in the Northeast region, opened the day at first doubles versus senior Harveer Bhalla (London, England) and freshman Aaron Meltzer (Bonita, Calif.).  The Stevens duo struggled to find their rhythm throughout the match, going down 3-0 early as everything seemed to go NYU's way.  The Ducks finally held serve to take their first game and looked like they would fight back into the match, just missing a break opportunity in the next game before finally breaking Meltzer's serve to make it 5-4.  The Violets answered right back with a break of their own, however, and although the Ducks would continue to keep the pressure on, they were unable to come back and fell, 8-5.

Fortunately for Stevens, the Ducks' second and third doubles teams had come away with wins to take a 2-1 lead heading into the singles matches.  Freshman Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) and junior Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) put Stevens up 1-0 with a key 8-4 victory over junior James Dean (Woodbury, N.Y.) and freshman Sidd Thangirala (Singapore) at third doubles, while freshman Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and senior Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) took control at second doubles after being knotted up early, also winning 8-4 over junior Steven Wu (Hillsborough, N.J.) and sophomore C.J. Leong (Singapore).

As singles play got under way, Stevens took an early edge with breaks on three courts while two remained even.  It was not long before NYU recovered, with Meltzer quickly sweeping Foran at third singles, 6-4, 6-1, to even the match score at 2-2.  About an hour later, Rosensteel locked up the win at first singles, defeating Wu, 6-1, 6-2, to regain the match lead for the Ducks.  Tisdale fell at fifth singles despite rallying in the last game of the second set to force a third, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

With Stevens needing to take two of the final three matches, the Ducks found themselves up a set at second singles and ahead by a break on each of the other two courts, but once again NYU bounced back quickly.  Smith fell to Thangirala at sixth singles (6-4, 4-6, 6-1) in a matchup that saw a total of six breaks, also fighting back late in the second set to force a third.  With NYU just one win shy of victory on the day, all eyes turned to Tasaki at fourth singles, where the senior had recovered from a 6-1 defeat in the first set to take the second and go up a break at 3-2 in the third.  Leong came up with two huge games to regain the edge, but Tasaki came right back to take the final two games and the match, knotting the overall score at 4-4 and leaving just Heinrich and Bhalla at second singles.

Heinrich had gone up a break in the first set and held on to take the tiebreaker on back-to-back double faults by Bhalla, but was beaten in the second set to force a third.  As Tasaki's match ended, the Ducks immediately lined Heinrich's court as the rookie was holding serve at 3-2.  The pair traded off games to make it 4-3, with both forcing deuces, before Heinrich finally broke Bhalla's serve to come within one game of taking the match.  He quickly went up 40-0 before Bhalla won a point, but Heinrich finished things off on the next serve to clinch the match for Stevens.

Rosensteel, the No. 8-ranked player in the Northeast as of last week, improved to 5-4 at first singles this spring while Heinrich, ranked No. 19, moved up to 7-2 at second singles.  Tasaki picked up his second win at fourth singles and improved to 6-3 with Foran at second doubles, while Tisdale and Smith moved to 2-1 at third doubles.

Head Coach Steve Gachko and the Ducks will head upstate for their first pair of Empire 8 Conference matches this spring.  Stevens will face St. John Fisher College on Saturday, April 6 at 10 a.m. and Alfred University later in the day at 2:30 p.m.