In the annual Stevens Invitational from September 14 to 15, the Stevens Men’s Tennis team started their fall season. This was a two-day event taking place in West Windsor Township. Competing in singles and doubles, the Ducks faced a tournament field that included New York University (NYU), The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Wilkes University, and Ithaca College.
To start, sophomore Marc Feliu won his opening match in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Last year, Feliu was the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and Conference Player of the Year. This was a wonderful start for him as he aims to continue with his dominance. Similarly, junior Mark Kanevsky won in straight sets and started his season well. The third Duck to win in the opening round was junior Gabriel Sifuentes, who went on to finish the opening day with a perfect 2-0 record. His first match was a smooth straight set victory, but his second match was a three-set thriller that proved his resilience.
Junior Keegan Morris and freshman Philip Szkudlarski battled in their season openers, but both came up short in three-set thrillers. This was Szkudlarski’s collegiate debut for the Ducks.
However, in Keegan Morris’ second match of the day, Morris won in straight sets against a Wilkes’ player. Joining Morris in getting his first win, sophomore Mark Pabalan picked up his first win of the season 6-2, 7-5 against an Ithaca player.
After singles play on Saturday, the Ducks participated in the doubles competition Sunday against TCNJ. Feliu and Morris got off to a strong start with an 8-4 set win. Then, junior Arjun Krishnan and sophomore Garrett Kincaid picked up the second win for the Ducks with a gritty 8-7 win.
With Stevens winning two matches and TCNJ winning the other two, the Ducks won the tie-breaking point and solidified Stevens’ doubles victory over TCNJ.
In the final matches of the weekend, Stevens and NYU matched up. The pairing of Feliu and Morris picked up their second win of the day 8-4. Stevens lost to NYU in doubles overall, but had a really productive weekend.
Conclusively, the Men’s Tennis team can regain their energy as they do not play until October 3.
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