Stevens Advances To E8 Finals With Win Over Nazareth
Danny Vohden
CHAMPIONSHIP HOME PAGE
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 3, 2014) – The top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology men's tennis team cruised to a 9-0 win over fourth-seeded Nazareth College Saturday in the Empire 8 Championship semi-finals.
With the win, Stevens (12-11) advances to the championship match to face the winner of the match-up between St. John Fisher College and Ithaca College.
Stevens wasted no time in building a commanding lead with a three-match-sweep at doubles. Sophomores
Ben Foran and
Tyler Tisdale got the winning started with an 8-1 win at second doubles over senior Nick Lord and freshman Christian Bryant for the pair's tenth win of the season.
Nazareth battled-back at second doubles in a match-up between sophomore
Matthew Heinrich and freshman
Antonio Perich and senior Erik Manske and sophomore Tyler Williams, but after going up 2-1, Stevens held serve the rest of the way and held-on for the 8-6 win in a back-and-forth match. Sophomore
Jacob Thigpen and freshman
Brett Derrington completed the sweep at No. 3 with an 8-2 win as the duo moved to 7-0 from that position on the season.
The Ducks continued their momentum once the singles matches started, first with a straight-set win at No. 3 for freshman
Michael Feldman over sophomore Scott Trobert, and followed by a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 5 for Tisdale over sophomore Brian Rosiek to clinch the match for Stevens.
Heinrich kept the Stevens winning going with his team-leading 19
th win at first singles in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Williams, and Derrington followed with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 6 over Bryant. For the final two singles matches, both teams agreed to play to an eight-game pro-set, and Stevens came away with an 8-0 win for Foran at No. 2 and an 8-1 win for Perich over Lord.
The championship match will take-place tomorrow at 12 p.m. as Stevens is looking for its fifth-straight conference championship, and its sixth in the last seven seasons. The Ducks have not lost a conference match since the spring of 2010, and they won by a combined score of 17-1 against the two teams on the other side of the bracket.
Heinrich/Perich (STE) def. Manske/Williams (NAZ) 8-6
Foran/Tisdale (STE) def. Lord/Bryant (NAZ) 8-1
Thigpen/Derrington (STE) def. Rosiek/Jennings (NAZ) 8-2
Heinrich (STE) def. Williams (NAZ) 6-1, 6-1
Foran (STE) def. Manske (NAZ) 8-0
Feldman (STE) def. Trobert (NAZ) 6-0, 6-0
Perich (STE) def. Lord (NAZ) 8-1
Tisdale (STE) def. Rosiek (NAZ) 6-1, 6-3
Derrington (STE) def. Bryant (NAZ) 6-4, 6-0