Over the last two weeks, the Stevens’ Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams have been battling it out on the courts, coming away with impressive results to close out the 2024 fall season. This year, the Ducks traveled to Fredericksburg, VA, for the three-day ITA Atlantic South Regional Championships.
The Men’s team had a rocky end to their fall season this past weekend from September 27 through 29. In the Championship Flight, junior Max-William Kanz came to play with an 8-7(8-6) victory over Christopher Newport University in the Round of 64 match. Unfortunately, he fell to Carnegie Mellon University in the Round of 32 match. In the Championship Doubles round, Kanz and second-year Samvid Andhare took a decisive victory over Wilkes University before an unfortunate setback from Swarthmore College. After entering as the ninth-ranked seed and earning a bye into the Round of 32 match, seniors Vivek Harinarayan and Olof Persson faced a hard defeat against Salisbury University. First-years Mihir Parcha and Aidan Miller fell 6-2 to Carnegie Mellon in their opening round on Friday.
Competing in the Blue 2 Flight on Saturday, Andhare advanced to the semifinal round after knocking out Shine Tokas of Shenandoah University and Braden Chavez of Carnegie Mellon. His run came to a close after being defeated by Albert Vladimirskiy from Mary Washington University. Mihir Parcha made an impressive rookie run in the Blue 1 Flight as he made his way to the semifinals after besting Salisbury University.
In doubles, the Mens’ team fought hard in the Championship Consolation and Blue 1 flights, but were taken out in the first couple rounds.
The Women’s team definitely came to play on September 20, with junior Sude Aytekin winning her opening match in the Championship Flight. She took a strong victory over Virginia Wesleyan’s Tuva Fink with a final score of 6-0.6-1. Unfortunately, Aytekin’s run ended after a 6- 0, 6- 2 loss to Carnegie Mellon’s Divya Venkatarama. Second-year Alix Dry also fought hard in the Championship Flight but fell short in her opening match against the ninth-ranked seed Grace Lorenz from Washington and Lee University.
In the Blue 1 Flight, junior Emma Eguia fell to Johns Hopkins’ Sahana Sanjeev with a final 6-0, 6-0 score. Second-year Julianna Gomez pushed hard against Swarthmore but was bested with a 6-2,6-4 score. In the Blue 2 Flight, first-year Wei-Wei Lai bowed out after her loss against Madeline Posner from Swarthmore. In the Blue 3 Flight, first-year Milagros Carbajal Diaz earned a decisive score against Randolph College in the Round of 16. Sadly, Diaz was outlasted in the quarterfinal with a final score of 6-3, 7-6 (10-8).
The Lady Ducks had two doubles teams compete in the Championship Flight. Dry and third-year Stephanie Untermeyer earned a bye for the first round and were ranked ninth in the competition. The pair took down Haverford’s doubles team 8-4. Duo Aytekin and Diaz fell 8-2 to Washington College.
On Sunday, September 22, the women’s team took to the courts and closed out the ITA competition with happy news. Sophomores Lorena Piegas and Julianna Gomez won the Blue Flight Championships, beginning with their 8-1 victory over Virginia Wesleyan and battling their way through Washington College and Salisbury College. Dry and Untermeyer set a program record as they became the first Stevens duo to advance to the Round of 16 at the Atlantic South Regionals.
Head Coach Arik Zeevy noted, “We were fortunate to travel with eight players, all of whom gained valuable experience that will make us a stronger team in the Spring.”
