FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (February 18, 2023) – Junior Aashi Kulakarn and first-year Max-William Kanz each won twice to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team to a 6-3 victory over Washington College of Maryland Saturday, in a neutral-site match hosted by the University of Mary Washington.

Sophomore Olof Persson joined classmates Sebastian Wroe and Vivek Harinarayan and junior Andrew He in winning once on the day for the Ducks, who improved to 1-0. 

Karl Hoegstedt had wins at both singles and doubles to lead Washington College, who fell to 0-1. The Ducks have won all three meetings with the Shoremen.

"I am so proud of the energy and focus we brought today from the first point to the last," head coach Steve Gachko said. "Everyone stepped up and contributed to a big team win to kick off our season on the road."

"I'm especially impressed with our fitness and ability to win all three matches deep in the third set today," Gachko continued. "We are all ready and excited to face a very tough Mary Washington team tomorrow."

Stevens opened the day by winning two of the three doubles flights. Kanz and Wroe scored an 8-4 win over Christian Gruyon and Landon Strober on line three for the Ducks' first point of the season. Washington College evened the match score after an 8-6 at first doubles. However, the Ducks quickly answered with an 8-4 win at second doubles by Kulakarni and Harinarayan to claim the advantage heading into singles play.

Washington College evened the match with a straight-set (6-1, 6-3) victory at first singles and the teams would split on lines four and five, with Kanz earning his second win of the day with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Strober at fourth singles. 

With the outcome of the match still up for grabs, the Ducks scored consecutive three-set victories at second, third, and sixth singles to close out the victory. Kulakarni began the sequence by claiming a 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2 victory in the second position, while He followed with a 6-2. 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 triumph on line three. Persson capped off the Ducks' season-opening victory with an impressive come-from-behind 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 win at sixth singles to produce the final margin of victory. 

Up Next: Men's Tennis will take on No. 18 University of Mary Washington Sunday at 10 a.m. A link for live video is posted to StevensDucks.com.

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