Men’s Tennis Drops Tight Battle With No. 1 Kenyon
Mark Becker
Box Score
POMONA, Calif. (March 12, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s tennis team fought valiantly but could not overcome the newly minted No. 1 Kenyon College Lords on Monday night. The Ducks led the contest, 2-1, after the doubles matches but could not pick up any singles wins despite several tight battles, eventually falling 7-2.
Kenyon improves to 7-2 after bouncing back from a loss at Azusa Pacific University earlier in the day while Stevens drops to 1-4 this spring.
Senior captain
Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) and freshman
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) started the night off with a comfortable 8-4 victory at first doubles, which senior
Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) and freshman
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) followed with an 8-5 victory at second doubles to put Stevens up 2-0. An 8-2 Lords victory in the final doubles match, in which Kenyon senior Paul Burgin (Baltimore, Md.) – the No. 4 singles player in the nation – competed cut the margin in half heading into the singles matchups.
Rosensteel took a close loss to sophomore Michael Razumovsky (Baltimore, Md.) at first singles, just dropping the first set, 7-5, and never getting going in the second (6-2). Burgin took the court against Heinrich at second singles in a strategic ploy, but the Ducks’ rookie sensation took him to the wire, giving up just one break in each set and falling by scores of 6-4 and 7-5.
Foran and junior
Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) just missed earning points for Stevens at third and sixth singles, respectively; Foran fell 6-4 in both sets while Smith dropped his 6-3 and 6-4. Tasaki played a close first set, falling 6-4, before dropping the match at fourth singles, while freshman
Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) suffered defeat at fifth singles.
Head Coach Steve Gachko and the Ducks will look to use their experience at the University of Rochester (8-1) in the final matchup of their California swing on Wednesday, March 13. Opening serve is set for 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (1 p.m. Eastern).
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