Stevens Competes Against Division I Foes in Stony Brook Invitational
Mark Becker
Box score
STONY BROOK, N.Y. (September 7, 2013) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team competed at the two-day Stony Brook Invitational on Saturday morning, along with Division I opponents Hofstra University, Quinnipiac University and host Stony Brook.
Sophomores
Matthew Heinrich (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and
Ben Foran (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) were awarded a first round bye in the doubles A-flight. The Ducks duo defeated Hofstra's pairing of senior Adrien Bailly (Paris, France) and junior Ari Richman (Phoenix, Ariz.), 8-6, to advance to the semifinals, where they fell to ASA College's sophomore Tim Srkala (Brno, Czech Republic) and freshman Jack Boling, 8-6.
The Ducks were represented by two doubles team in the B-flight. Freshman
Erik Ujvari (Happauge, N.Y.) and sophomore
Jacob Thigpen (Birmingham, Ala.) fell to Hamilton's Lokre and McKee-Proctor, 8-6, in the first round, but freshmen
Brett Derrington (Brentwood, Tenn.) and
Antonio Perch (San Francisco, Calif.) advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-6 victory over Stony Brook's rookie pairing of Hari Rohan and Grullon. With a bye moving them to the semifinals, the Ducks team fought hard but fell to Concordia University's Frey and Olfans, 8-4.
In the singles flights, Heinrich picked up an 8-5 first round victory over Hofstra senior Matthew Gemmell (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) before dropping a heartbreaking 2-6, 6-3, 3-10 quarterfinal match to ASA's Srkala. Foran fell in the opening round to Stony Brook's freshman Alexandre Felisa, 8-5, and was unable to bounce back in the consolation bracket, also falling 8-5 to Quinnipiac freshman Patrick Sell.
Freshmen
Charles Drake (Hilton Head, S.C.) and
Michael Feldman (Alamo, Calif.) competed for the Ducks in the B-flight, with both receiving byes in the opening round. Drake fell in the quarterfinals to Concordia's Olfans, 7-5, 7-6, while Feldman dropped a marathon three-set battle to Quinnipiac junior Sebastian Barbero (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 6-2, 4-6, 10-12.
A trio of Ducks rounded things out in the C-flight. Derrington fell, 8-2, to Hofstra senior Beau Wills (Walton, New Zealand) and dropped his consolation match to Frey, 8-3. Thigpen was swept by Concordia's Babadjanov in the first round, receiving a bye to the semifinals of the consolation bracket before falling to Hofstra sophomore Leo Pires (Sao Paulo, Brazil), 8-4. Perch, meanwhile, managed to get out of the first round with an 8-2 win over Hamilton College's Burke Paxton before falling in the quarterfinals to Stony Brook's freshman Brandon Stone (Melville, N.Y.), 6-1, 6-0.
Head Coach
Steve Gachko and the Ducks will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Tournament, which will be held in Ithaca, N.Y. from Sept. 20-22.