Stevens Falls To No. 4 Amherst In NCAA Second Round
Danny Vohden
Results
AMHERST, Mass. (May, 10, 2014) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team fought but fell 5-0 to No. 4 Amherst College Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The win advances Amherst (32-3) to the third round, while Stevens' season ends at 14-12.
Featuring two doubles teams ranked in the top-25 in the nation, Amherst established an early lead with a doubles sweep. Freshman Andrew Arnaboldi and sophomore Aaron Revzin picked-up the first point with a win at second doubles over sophomores
Ben Foran and
Tyler Tisdale.
Amherst picked-up another point at third when freshmen
Charles Drake and
Michael Feldman fell 8-4, before sophomore
Matthew Heinrich and
Antonio Perich fell in a back-and-forth battle against the senior tandem of Joey Fritz and Justin Hendrix. Both teams battled with Amherst holding the slight edge throughout until, after going up 7-6, edging Stevens with the final point.
Stevens continued to hang-tough against top-seeded Amherst once singles started, but sophomore Russell Einbinder picked-up the straight-set win at No. 6 over freshman
Brett Derrington, followed by a 6-1, 6-2, win at No. 3 for sophomore Andrew Yaraghi over Feldman to clinch the win.
Before the match was clinched, it took a first-set tiebreaker at No. 5 for Revzin to beat Perich, and Foran was down a point in the first-set at No. 2. At No. 1, Heinrich had dropped the first-set to Fritz, the No. 14 ranked player in the nation and No. 1 in the Northeast, but was tied at five in the second.
While the team's season may be over, Heinrich's is still going with his inclusion in the NCAA Individual Championships taking place May 22-24 in Claremont, Calif. More information on how to follow Heinrich during that week will be posted to stevensducks.com later this month.
The loss concluded another impressive season for the Ducks that saw them take further steps in the building of a national power. Stevens played a grueling schedule this year that included nine opponents ranked in the top-30 nationally while capturing its fifth-straight Empire 8 Championship.