EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ men's tennis team made a resounding statement on Friday afternoon, running off wins on the last eight courts to pull away for a stunning 8-1 victory over No. 29 RPI inside the Rec Center.
The Lions dropped the No. 1 doubles court but never lost again, roaring ahead to their first win over a nationally ranked team since taking down No. 29 Swarthmore in April of 2022.
DOUBLES
- Matthew Michibata and Harrison Maitland-Carter conceded just one break on the top doubles court but were unable to get it back before falling, 8-5, to Aiden Drover-Mattinen and Andy Zhu, who also qualified for the ITA Cup in the fall
- Brett Schuster and Alberto Thomas dominated at No. 3, getting TCNJ on the board with an 8-3 win over Bryce Burnham and Jonathan McMillan
- The rubber match came down to No. 2, where Aayush Kishore and Dorian Makarski staved off several challenges from Tsubi Okada and Joel McCandless but came up with the goods en route to an 8-5 victory, finishing the match on a lunging backhand volley winner from Kishore to polish off Makarski's decisive service game
SINGLES
- Thomas controlled play from the start, cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Burnham at No. 4
- Michibata pulled out a hard-fought win over Drover-Mattinen on the top court, taking the decisive third set, 6-3
- Kishore clinched the match in comeback fashion, rallying past Zhu for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph at No. 2
- The win already secured, the ensuing three courts were icing on the cake. Adrian Tsui picked up a significant one against Okada, an ITA Cup qualifier in singles, coming from a set down to pull off a 5-7, 6-4, 11-9 thriller in an extended third-set super breaker
- Maitland-Carter dominated his way to an 8-2 pro-set win at No. 6, and Makarski was a straight-sets winner, 6-4, 6-3, against McCandless at No. 5.
NOTES
- Michibata's singles win was the 65th of his career, moving him all alone into fifth on the school's all-time charts
UP NEXT
- The Lions are right back at it on Sunday as Union College comes to town
