WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (September 19, 2021)  – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team captured 10 gold medals Sunday to close out the 2021 Middle Atlantic Conference Individual Championships, hosted by Wilkes University and King's College.

First-year Vivek Harinarayan took first place at No. 1 singles and was joined in the winner's circle by classmates Matt Luzzi (No. 2 singles), Sebastian Wroe (No. 3 singles) and Olof Persson (No. 5 singles) as the Ducks captured six of the seven singles titles. Sophomore Andrew He won a championship at fourth singles and senior Brian Li won gold at line seven singles to round out the Ducks' singles champions.

In doubles play, the Ducks swept all four flights. Graduate student Keegan Morris and senior Marc Feliu won gold at No. 1 doubles, while Persson and sophomore Aashi Kulakarni topped the field on the second line. Wroe teammed with classmate Troy Zhang to defeat the field on the third line, while graduate student Mark Pabalan and senior Eloi Pradier finished first on the fourth line. Stevens previously swept the doubles titles in 2019, which was the last time the event was held. 

When paired with the Ducks' 11 for 11 performance in 2019, Stevens currently ranks third in the conference's lengthy history in both singles and doubles individual conference champions.

"I'm proud of our results this weekend across the board," said head coach Steve Gachko. "We were clearly the team with a target on our back and we asserted ourselves as the top performers in the conference. We are excited to get back to work tomorrow and prepare for the Fall Invitational at TCNJ next weekend."

After dropping just four points in his first two collegiate matches, Harinarayan advanced to the championship match at first singles with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over DeSales' Augie Citrone. The Forest Hill, Maryland native wrapped up his first career event with a tidy 6-3, 6-4 victory over second-seeded Cole Gibson of Wilkes in the final.

At second singles, Luzzi dropped just one point through four matches to capture gold in his first collegiate event. The Greenwich, Connecticut product defeated second-seeded Zachary Puccia from FDU-Florham in the championship match.

After advancing to the semifinals in the third singles flight without dropping a point, Wroe finished his first collegiate event with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over second-seeded Lukas Sanidas of Stevenson.

He continued the Ducks' strong singles play with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over unseeded Brady McLucas in the semifinal before earning his first collegiate singles crown with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Stevenson's Jaden Bonta in the championship. Bonta defeated the flight's second seed in the other semifinal.

Persson was one of two Ducks to earn gold in both singles and doubles play. The Woodlands, Texas native defeated FDU-Florham's Ronald Duvall II to win gold at No. 5 singles and then paired with Kulakarni, the reigning MAC Freedom Rookie of the Year, to finish first at second line doubles after an 8-1 victory over DeSales' Will Pollick and Nolan Beck in the final. 

Li captured his first MAC singles crown with an exciting three-set victory over Stevenson's Simeon Smith. The Danville, California native won a 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 10-6 victory in the championship match after knocking off Wilkes' Connor Frey in straight sets in the semifinal.

Feliu and Morris were repeat champions No. 1 doubles, defeating Lebanon Valley's third-seeded tandem of Adam Warren and Michael Schuetz via an 8-4 decision. The Ducks' veteran tandem is the first repeat champion at No.1  doubles since Wilkes' Dominic Parfianowicz and Jacob Parfianowicz won three straight between 2013-15.

Wroe and Zhang won gold at No. 3 doubles with an 8-2 triumph over Wilkes' tandem of Gibson and Connor Murphy in the final. Pabalan and Pradier blanked Stevenson's Dylan Gettier and Simeon Smith to round out the Ducks' champions.

Pradier dropped a hard-fought 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 decision to FDU-Florham's Matthew Emery in the line six championship to earn silver.

Up Next: Men's Tennis heads to Ewing, New Jersey for the two-day Fall Invitational on Sept. 25-26, which will be hosted by The College of New Jersey.

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