March 8, 2009

Princeton, N.J. -

Falling behind after dropping the doubles point, the Stony Brook men's tennis team rallied to pick up four singles wins to come back and defeat Princeton, 4-3, this afternoon on the Tigers’ home courts. It was the first-ever victory over the Princeton for Stony Brook in men’s tennis. Junior Halvar Dil (Amersfoort, Netherlands) picked up wins in both doubles and singles to help the Seawolves to the milestone victory.

Stony Brook’s No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Ivan Rummel (Budapest, Hungary) and Dil started the winning for the Seawolves when they fought off their opponents from Princeton in a close, 9-8 decision. The Tigers held the upper hand in the other two matches, however, including a close 9-7 win at No. 3 that gave Princeton (5-5) the first point of the match.

Stony Brook (6-3) bounced back in the singles portion of the match, grabbing three wins in straight sets that put the Seawolves on the brink of victory. Dil dropped just four games in his victory at No. 2 over Ryan Kim, while senior Youssef Fassi-Fehri (Fes, Morocco) was nearly as effective in his 6-4, 6-4 win over Yohei Shoji. In the No. 3 position junior Jon Epstein (Silver Spring, Md.) dropped just a game in his first set against Ravi Yegya-Raman before holding him off in the second set in a 6-1, 7-5 decision.

With Princeton taking the No.1 singles match in straight sets, the decisive action came at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions. Needing just one of the two matches for the win, Stony Brook got it at No. 6 where freshman Mitch Wong (Tampa, Fla.) wrapped things up in three sets, bouncing back after falling in the second set of his match with Ilya Trubov to take a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win.

Stony Brook will be in action again on Friday, March 13 when travels to Lehigh to take on the Mountain Hawks in a 2:00 p.m. match.

Stony Brook 4, Princeton 3
Singles
1. Peter Capkovic (P) def. Ivan Rummel; 6-1, 6-3
2. Halvar Dil (SB) def. Ryan Kim; 6-2, 6-2
3. Jon Epstein (SB) def. Ravi Yegya-Raman; 6-1, 7-5
4. Youssef Fassi-Fehri (SB) def. Yohei Shoji; 6-4, 6-4
5. Coleman Crutchfield (P) def. Bertrand Marcos; 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
6. Mitch Wong (SB) def. Ilya Trubov; 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Doubles
1. Rummel/Dil (SB) def. Capkovic/Alex Vuckovic; 9-8
2. Kim/ Trubov (P) def. Fassi-Fehri/Wong; 8-1
3. Shoji/Crutchfield (P) def. Epstein/Marcos; 9-7