HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 14, 2023) – No. 39 Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team won five of the six singles flights en route to a 6-3 victory over New York University (NYU) Friday in non-conference action on the Stevens Tennis Courts. The contest was a Mental Health Awareness match.
Junior Aashi Kulakarni won twice for the Ducks, who won their seventh straight to move to 10-6 on the year. Stevens has won each of the last four meetings with NYU.
Joseph He won twice while regionally-ranked Alex Yang lost twice for NYU, who dropped to 6-5. The loss is the second straight for the Violets.
Kulakarni and sophomore Olof Persson got the Ducks off to a good start with an 8-2 victory at first doubles over Yang and Zachary Freier. Reigning MAC Freedom Player of the Week, sophomore Vivek Harinarayan, and Kanz made it 2 for 2 with a thrilling 8-7 (7-4) win at second doubles over Alexander Lee and Boren Zheng. Junior Andrew He teamed with sophomore Troy Zhang, but the duo dropped the final doubles pairing 8-7 (7-3) to Andy Watterson and Joseph He. The Ducks led 2-1 heading into the singles matches.
As play turned to singles, the Ducks won four of the six flights. Kulakarni took down Yang, who is ranked 13th in the region, after losing the first set. The final score was 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. He topped Freier 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 on line three, winning 14 of the 23 games. First-year Timothy Lau earned the Ducks' sixth and winning point by taking down Andy Watterson 6-3, 6-3. Sophomore Sebastian Wroe rounded out the victories for the Ducks by taking down Shrey Arora 6-3, 6-2.
TCNJ claimed singles wins on lines two and four to provide the final margin of victory.
Up Next: No. 39 Men's Tennis resumes conference play on April 15 with a road tilt at Lycoming. The match was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. and to be outdoors, but it has now been moved indoors with a 12:30 p.m. start. The Ducks have won the only other matchup between the two teams which took place last year in Hoboken. The Ducks won 9-0.
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