NEWARK, NJ - The NJIT men's tennis team earned a huge victory on Saturday, defeating Navy 4-3 at the Nailmoli Tennis Center.
The Highlanders have won four out of their last five and are now 5-4 on the season after the victory over the Midshipmen, who entered Saturday's match with an impressive 15-3 record.
"This was a great win for us," said Head Coach
Marco Matteucci. "We finally showed what fighting to the end can achieve."
Navy got on the board first, sweeping the doubles matches to go ahead 1-0.
The Highlanders bounced back, winning four of six singles matches to win by a 4-3. The singles victories came at first, second, third, and fifth singles, by
Abdullah Fouad,
Amine El Kholti,
Josh Smith, and
Ashwin Kanetkar, respectively. Fouad clinched the match with his first singles victory, taking it 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-3.
"Josh and Abdullah had a huge fighting spirit, pulling out their matches in three sets," added Matteucci. "Amine and Ashwin set the tone for us with two early wins to give us momentum."
NJITÂ will look to keep the momentum going when it returns right back to the court on Sunday for the first road match since February 12. The Highlanders will take on Marist at 5pm in Poughkeepsie.
"Today showed us how good of a team we really can be," concluded Matteucci. "Tomorrow we have another day at the office and need to get ready for an away match at Marist...ROLL TECH!"
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Complete Results
Singles
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| 1. Abdullah Fouad (NJIT) def. Segraves, Gavin (NAVY) 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-3 |
| 2. Amine El Kholti (NJIT) def. Fishkin, Jake (NAVY) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 |
| 3. Josh Smith (NJIT) def. Dabek, Jack (NAVY) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 |
| 4. Garner, Luke (NAVY) def. O. Callo von Platen (NJIT) 6-3, 7-5 |
| 5. Ashwin Kanetkar (NJIT) def. Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) 6-2, 6-3 |
| 6. Pak, William (NAVY) def. Samuel Townes (NJIT) 6-4, 7-6 |
Doubles
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