WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (April 19, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team won back-to-back 9-0 decisions on Saturday against Hartwick College and Utica College to finish undefeated in Empire 8 play.
The win against Hartwick was Stevens' fortieth straight conference victory dating back to spring 2010. With the wins, Stevens is now 11-9 while Hartwick and Utica dropped 1-10 and 2-8 respectively.
Stevens 9, Hartwick, 0 Stevens set the tone early with convincing wins in all three doubles matches. The freshman duo of
Michael Feldman and
Charles Drake picked-up their eighth win of the season together with an 8-4 win over juniors Will Gilbraith and Brain Redder. Freshman
Antonio Perich and sophomore Matt Heinrich continued their doubles prowess with an 8-0 win at second doubles to along with sophomore
Jacob Thigpen and freshman
Brett Derrington's 8-1 win at third.
Perich and Heinrich have now won nine doubles matches together, while Derrington and Thigpen remain undefeated with their fifth doubles win of the season.
The Ducks continued their dominance once the singles matches started, winning twice in straight-sets. Heinrich knocked-off Redder at No. 1 6-1, 6-0 to earn his fifteenth singles win, while Foran won at No. 2, 6-1, 6-0 over Gilbraith.
Feldman and Derrington won in straight-sets at No. 3 and No. 6 respectively while sophomore
Tyler Tisdale beat junior Sean Coopola 6-3, 6-0 at No. 4. Thigpen won for the fourth time this spring with a 6-1, 6-2 win at fifth singles.
Stevens 9, Utica 0 Stevens once again asserted dominance early with three doubles wins to start. Drake and Feldman took the win at No. 1 over senior Daniel Fadden and sophomore Raphael Warnon, 8-4. In second doubles, Perich and Heinrich won easily 8-0 while third doubles was a forfeit for Utica as they weren't able to field a team.
Utica took another forfeit at sixth singles, but Stevens cruised to wins in the remaining five matches. Heinrich won in straight-sets at No. 1 over Warnon to go along with straight-set wins at No. 3 and No. 5 for Tisdale and Derrington respectively.
Drake won his eighth singles match with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Fadden, while Thigpen won 6-1, 6-0 over senior Phil Pham at No. 5.
Coming up
With the top-seed in the Empire 8 tournament all sewn-up, the Ducks will close-out their season with two non-conference opponents. On April 23, Stevens will head to The College of New Jersey at 3:30 p.m. before ending the season on April 27 at No. 12 Bowdoin College at 11 a.m.
Be sure to follow the team for the rest of the season on stevensducks.com or on Twitter @stevensducks and @Ducks_Tennis.
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