HOUGHTON, NY. (March 30, 2019) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team started Empire 8 competition on Saturday by taking Houghton College and Alfred University at Kerr-Pegula Fieldhouse. Stevens day started with a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Houghton College which snapped the Ducks regular season conference match win streak which stood at 66 that spanned over the last nine seasons. The men's tennis team responded nicely with a solid 9-0 victory over Alfred University in their second match of the day.

Houghton College Match
After dropping the No. 1 doubles flight, the freshmen duo of Garrett Kincaid and Mark-Jonathan Pabalan got the first point on the board for Stevens after posting a hard earned 8-6 win in the second doubles flight. Freshman Brian Li and Eloi Pradier were on the brink of putting the Ducks up 2-1 but dropped the final doubles competition 8-7 (7-5) to Ethan Baker and Ethan Yung which gave the host school the advantage heading into the singles flights.

The Highlanders extended their lead after winning the third singles flight and put the Ducks in a must win situation for the remaining singles competition. Stevens could not mount a comeback as Houghton clinched the match win with wins at the No. 5 and 6 singles flight. Freshman Marc Feliu Gomez put together an impressive straight-set win in the first singles flight. Sophomore Gabriel Sifuentes and Arjun Krishnan both needed three sets to win their respective flights to finish out the match. With the win Houghton moves to 4-4 on the season and 1-0 in the E8, Stevens falls to 3-7 and 0-1 in the conference.

"Credit to Houghton on beating us today. It was a good learning experience for our younger guys to get in the lineup but it's unfortunate to come up a bit short," remarked Head Coach Steve Gachko. "I'm hopeful that this loss today will be more beneficial for our team in the long run. We are excited to get back to work against Rochester tomorrow."

Alfred University Match
After suffering a tough loss in their conference opener Stevens was able to regroup and take out Alfred University 9-0. This was the Ducks first shut out victory of the season and moved their record to 4-7 and 1-1 in the Empire 8, the Saxons fall to 2-3 and 0-1 in the conference.
Stevens jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to three impressive doubles flights wins and never looked back. Freshman Garrett Kincaid didn't drop a single game in the fourth singles flight and cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win. Sophomore Mark Kanevsky was equally impressive in the No.2 singles flight by posting a straight-set win while only dropping one game. Sophomore Arjun Krishnan, Bryan Szayna, Eloi Pradier, and Brian Li completed the shut out by recording straight-set victories in their respective singles flights.

Up Next: The men's tennis team will conclude their New York road trip with a non-conference match against the University of Rochester on Sunday at 10:00 AM.

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