On October 2 and October 3, the Men’s Tennis team attended the ITA Atlantic South Region Championship in Virginia. The Ducks played well against tough opposition and did the Stevens name proud.
On the first day, Thursday, October 2, a pair of Stevens players advanced to the round of 32. The first Duck to make it through was junior Samvid Andhare. He did so in style by winning both his sets comfortably against his opponent, Evan Fisher of Mary Washington. The first set ended 6-1, and the second was 6-2.
Senior, Max-William Kanz, also defeated his opponent, Ayaan Choudhary of Virginia Wesleyan, securing his spot in the next round. The opening set was close, but Kanz demonstrated his skill and won 7-6. He unfortunately lost the second set 6-1. However, he showed resilience and triumphed in the decisive third set 10-5. Freshman Ian Batra faced tough competition against fifth-seeded Max Lindstrom of Swarthmore and unfortunately lost 6-4 and 6-3. This result placed him into the consolation round.
The Ducks closed out the tournament on Friday, October 3. Batra and junior Tristan Wroe teamed up as a doubles pair and earned themselves a win. They were 7-3 down in the set but showed their quality as they rallied it back to a 7-7 tie. They then won the tiebreaker 7-3, winning the match. Unfortunately, their hot streak came to an end when they faced number four Fisher and Trevor Rein of Mary Washington. They suffered an 8-5 setback and lost the match.
Kanz also formed a doubles team with freshman Renat Kramin to face William Fromherz and John Riordan of Mary Washington in the doubles round of 32. It was an extremely tight game, but unfortunately, they lost in an 8-7 decision.
Andhare, who beat Evan Fisher on Thursday, played against ninth-seeded Mukundh Boopathi of Johns Hopkins in the singles round of 32. Each player won a set with an identical score of 6-3, leaving it up to the last set to decide the winner. Boopathi took the final set 10-5, winning the set and knocking Andhare out of the competition. For the doubles, Andhare paired with Dhaivik Chenemilla, a sophomore, in the Championship Flight, against Johns Hopkins opponents. They unfortunately lost 8-4 in a thrilling game.
Lastly, in the B1 doubles flight, freshman Elias Alkio and junior Johnny Haase won against their first-round opponents from St. Mary’s with an 8-5 victory. They unfortunately lost their next game against Washington College 8-2.It is clear that it was an overall good performance by the Men’s Tennis team. They showed their Duck pride and played every game their hardest. They will take this experience into their next fixture at the Middle Atlantic Conference in Pennsylvania against Misericordia on October 18.
