Stevens Nearly Knocks Off Undefeated No. 20 MIT
Mark Becker
Box score
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 23, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology fell at the undefeated No. 20 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon. Freshman
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) won the Ducks’ only individual match at second singles while pairing with senior
Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) to win at first doubles.
MIT improves to 10-0 while Stevens drops to 2-5.
Stevens got out to its usual start with a 2-1 after the doubles matches, with the Heinrich/Rosensteel pairing defending first doubles, 8-1, while freshman
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and senior
Shota Tasaki (Greenwich, Conn.) took second doubles, 8-5, but singles did not go the Ducks’ way. The Engineers won at third singles as freshman Kevin Wang (Havertown, Pa.) defeated Foran
to tie the match at 2-2 and shortly after went up a set at first, second and fourth singles over Rosensteel, Heinrich and Tasaki, respectively.
Stevens was far from out at that point, however, as each player battled back to force a third set and push MIT to the brink. Ultimately, Heinrich would be the only one successful in rallying to victory. The rookie sensation went up a break almost immediately in the final set and served for the match at 5-4. Despite Heinrich starting the game off with back-to-back aces, senior Larry Pang (Torrance, Calif.) was able to force a deuce, although Heinrich regained control and took the point, forcing an errant backhand to end the match (2-6, 6-3, 6-4).
Freshman
Tyler Tisdale (Grapevine, Texas) and junior
Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) competed at fifth and sixth singles, respectively, and formed the unsuccessful third doubles team, falling 8-3.
Head Coach Steve Gachko and the Ducks will continue their weekend road trip at the United States Coast Guard Academy (1-5) tomorrow, Sunday, March 24 in New London, Conn. Opening serve is set for 11 a.m.