Feb. 16, 2007

Box Score

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ - New Jersey Institute of Technology men's tennis continued its smashing first season of NCAA Division I competition with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Rutgers of the Big East Conference in a match at the East Brunswick Racquet Club Friday.

The Highlanders, who are 6-2 in the 2006-07 season, rallied for the 4-3 victory after trailing at one point, 3-1. NJIT took four of the six singles contests to take the match.

When it was 3-1, the lone NJIT victory came on a dominant straight-set victory by freshman Cosmin Chijudea (6-2, 6-0) over Andrew Tervooren. Next, NJIT freshman Steve Erickson closed the gap to 3-2 with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over RU's Arjun Vaidya at #1 singles.

Highlander Senior Steve Arlt leveled the match with a gutsy 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rohan Patkar at #4 singles. Junior Jonathan Lang capped off the thrilling NJIT comeback with a 7-5, 0-6, 7-6(4) victory over Matthew Fawcett at #2 singles.

"Everyone on our team played with maximum effort and intensity on every point," NJIT coach Phil Baboulis said. "Today proved we can be a force on the road against the top teams from the Big East Conference."

The Highlanders host Monmouth at 7 pm on Saturday at the Tenafly Racquet Club in Tenafly, NJ.