HOBOKEN, N.J. (April 19, 2023) – No. 39 Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis continued its perfect MAC Freedom play with a 9-0 shutout of DeSales University Wednesday at the Stevens Tennis Courts.
With the win, Stevens moved to 12-6 on the year, while also clinching the MAC Freedom regular-season title with a 7-0 record. Dating back to 2019, Stevens has won 24 straight regular-season conference matches. DeSales dropped to 7-4 on the year and to 3-2 in conference play. The Bulldogs have dropped two straight.
As a result of winning the league's regular season crown, Stevens is assured of home court advantage in the playoffs. The Ducks will host the fourth seed on Tuesday, Apr. 25 at the Stevens Tennis Courts. Currently, King's and Lycoming are tied for the final playoff berth with each squad sporting a 3-3 record. However, the Monarchs blanked the Warriors earlier today and now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker should they remain deadlocked at the end of the regular season. FDU-Florham is locked into the second seed, while DeSales is third, although the Bulldogs still have two matches remaining.
Stevens again captured all three doubles flights. Sophomore
Olof Persson and junior
Aashi Kulakarni won their ninth straight match with an 8-6 win on line one over Augie Citrone and Philip Ritchie. Sophomore
Vivek Harinarayan and first-year
Max-William Kanz topped Aiden Kiernan and Will Pollick 8-4 on line two to also record their ninth straight win. Sophomore
Sebastian Wroe and classmate
Troy Zhang completed the sweep with an 8-3 win on line three for their first win as partners.
The Ducks capped a perfect 21-0 mark in singles matches within the MAC Freedom, dropping just 14 games in six straight-set victories. Kulakarni and first-year
Timothy Lau each dropped just one game in posting victories on lines one and six, respectively. For Lau, the victory was the Kinnelon, New Jersey native's sixth straight in singles play. Harinarayan topped Ritchie 6-2, 6-1 on line two, while Kanz scored a 6-2, 6-0 win over Mark Sherrill for his eighth win in his last nine singles matches. Wroe topped Pollick 6-3, 6-0, while junior
Andrew He bested Kiernan 6-3, 6-1 in his lone match of the afternoon for his eighth consecutive singles victory.
Up Next: No. 39 Men's Tennis opens the postseason on Apr. 25 in the semifinal round of the MAC Freedom Tournament. The Ducks are 5-0 all-time in the MAC Freedom Tournament, outscoring opponents 25-1.
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks
#AllRise
