NEWARK, NJ - The NJIT men's tennis team opened its season in dramatic fashion on Sunday, defeating Drexel 4-3 at the Naimoli Tennis Center.

Drexel (0-1) won the doubles point, but the Highlanders (4-2) took four of six singles matches to clinch the season-opening win. 

"It was a great start to a new season," explained Head Coach Ira Miller." We waited almost a year to show what we can do on the court and today we really shined."

Abdullah Fouad, Josh Smith, Samuel Townes, and Ashwin Kanetkar each picked up a singles victory for the Highlanders on Sunday.

Kanetkar, who made his collegiate debut in the match, clinched the win for NJIT with a straight-set victory at fifth singles. 

"The match came down to fifth singles and Ashwin played like a veteran to clinch the final match 6-4, 7-5," added Miller.  "We had great enthusiasm and huge team support certainly helped us win the close ones today."

NJIT will look to make it two in a row when it returns to the court on Sunday, March 7 to take on La Salle. First serve is slated for 1pm back in the Naimoli Tennis Center.

FULL RESULTS
Doubles
#1 Djordje Janackovic and Alex De Sousa (L) defeat Josh Smith and Samuel Townes, 7-6
#2 Abdullah Fouad and Amine El Kholti (N) defeat Gustav Wogen and Youseff Lahlou, 6-2
#3 Matvery Radionov and Alvaro Cruz Chamorro (L) defeat Aidar Aidossov and Ashwin Kanetkar, 6-2
Singles
#1 Abdullah Fouad (N) defeats Alex De Sousa, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
#2 Josh Smith (N) defeats Sanil Jagtiani, 7-5, 6-4
#3 Hugo Brungs (L) defeats Amine El Kholti, 7-5, 6-1
#4 Samuel Townes (N) defeats Gustav Wogan, 6-4, 6-3
#5 Ashwin Kanetkar (N) defeats Alvvaro Cruz Chamorro, 6-4, 7-5 
#6 Matvey Radionov (L) defeats Juan Bejarano, 6-4, 6-2