The tension at the courts in Ewing, New Jersey, was thick enough to cut with a racket on Friday afternoon. For the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s tennis team, the math was brutal: down 3-0 against The College of New Jersey, a team ranked slightly higher at No. 39. In the quiet, methodical world of collegiate tennis, a 3-0 deficit is often the sound of a closing door. Most teams would have packed their bags and accepted the defeat as a statistical inevitability. Instead, the No. 44 Ducks turned the afternoon into a masterclass in psychological resilience.
The Doubles Collapse
The struggle began early, with the Ducks (11-5) losing all three doubles flights. The Lions dominated the opening, leaving Stevens in a position that would deflate even the most seasoned programs. Elias Alkio and Dhaivik Chenemilla fought through a grueling tiebreak at No. 3, but ultimately fell 7-6 (8-6). Meanwhile, the top two pairings—Samvid Andhare and Max-William Kanz at No. 1, and Ian Batra and Tristan Wroe at No. 2—could not find their footing, both dropping their matches with identical 6-3 scorelines. By the time the singles portion of the afternoon began, the scoreboard told a story of a team struggling to find momentum.
A Calculated Surge
When the singles matches opened, the situation worsened before it improved. The Lions surged ahead 3-0 as Alkio was blanked 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6, and Chenemilla dropped a 6-1, 6-4 decision at No. 4. However, the pivot point arrived through a shift in rhythm led by Batra. His 6-3, 6-2 victory at No. 3 provided the first spark of life for the visitors. Kanz followed with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 2, and Andhare leveled the overall score at 3-3 with a clinical 6-3, 6-2 performance at the top spot.
The Weight of the Final Point
With the team score deadlocked, the entire focus of the facility converged on No. 5 singles, where Wroe remained the last player on the court. He had already secured the first set 7-5, but the second set demanded a different kind of endurance. As he pushed his opponent into another tiebreak, the stakes were clear: a loss here would have rendered the previous three singles wins a mere footnote in a hard-fought defeat. When Wroe finally outlasted his opponent 7-6 (7-5), he didn't just win a match; he completed a rare, high-stakes reversal that fundamentally altered the trajectory of the Ducks’ season.
Momentum Heading into the Tournament
This comeback serves as a critical indicator for Stevens as they move toward the postseason. The team has demonstrated an ability to perform under extreme scoreboard pressure, a trait that is often the difference between a successful tournament run and an early exit. The next reading of their performance will arrive this Sunday, when they host Lebanon Valley College at the Bayonne Tennis Courts. A win there will secure the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom Tournament, a position that would validate this Friday’s heroics as the turning point of their year.
