Stevens Sweeps St. John Fisher in E8 Championship Semifinal, 5-0
Mark Becker
Box score
HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 4, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s tennis team swept St. John Fisher College, 5-0, in a matchup of the #1 and 4 seeds in the Empire 8 Men’s Tennis Championship semifinals on Saturday morning.
The Ducks improve to 14-7 overall with the victory, with all seven losses having come to national top-27 teams, while the Cardinals end the season 6-11.
Stevens jumped out to early leads at first and third doubles, with both duos going up by a pair of breaks at 4-1 and closing things out before long, 8-2 for freshman
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and senior
Chris Rosensteel (East Windsor, N.J.) at first doubles and 8-1 for senior
Derek Smith (Boise, Idaho) and freshman
Jacob Thigpen (Birmingham, Ala.) at threes. Freshman
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) and senior
Brian Liebeskind (Basking Ridge, N.J.) held serve through a 5-4 score before being broken, but came back with a pair of breaks themselves to take the match, 8-5, and give the Ducks a 3-0 lead heading into singles play.
Needing just two points to clinch the matchup, Stevens quickly got those from Rosensteel and Heinrich as both swept their matches at second and first doubles, respectively. The Ducks went up a set at all four courts before play ceased with the 5-0 victory, with Foran leading 6-2, 2-0 at third singles and Smith up 6-1, 4-1 at fourth singles.
Head Coach Steve Gachko and the Ducks, ranked the No. 8 team in the Northeast Region of the ITA Division III Men’s Rankings on Thursday, will host the winner of the other semifinal match between #2 seed Ithaca College and #3 seed Nazareth College tomorrow, Sunday, May 5 at 11 a.m.