EDGEWATER, NJ – The University of Rochester men's tennis team opened up its weekend road trip with a loss at host Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday afternoon, dropping a 5-2 decision at the Edgewater Tennis Center.
 
The loss drops Rochester to 8-6 on the season, while the Ducks move to 6-5 overall in the 2024-25 campaign.
 
Junior Kavin Shukla was a double-winner for Rochester, picking up a straight set singles win at number four while also pairing with Liam Rieger for a win at third doubles. Senior Krish Vennam was the only other winner for Rochester, rallying for a three-set victory at the top singles slot.
 
Despite Shukla and Rieger's 6-1 win at third doubles, which started off the match strong for UR, the Ducks ended up swiping the doubles point by securing wins at the other two doubles positions. At two, Vennam and Ahaan Malhotra fell by a 6-3 score to Samvid Andhare and Aidan Miller.
 
The deciding doubles point was at number one, with Stevens' Vivek Harinarayan and Olof Persson coming out with a 6-4 win over Alan Wang and Surya Rajamani.
 
With all six singles courts in action at the same time, UR looked to gain early momentum in the second half of the match, but unfortunately, Stevens kept the momentum and took the first two points of singles play to go up 3-0.
 
Dhaivik Chenemilla won over Joseph Xia 6-1, 6-0 at five, with Ethan Samora dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision at number six to Persson.
 
UR got on the board with Shukla's 6-4, 7-6 (1) win over Mihir Parcha before the clinching point was won by Miller against Andy Liu at number three. Miller earned a 6-2, 7-6 (5) win in that match, putting Stevens in front 4-1.
 
The final two matches were closely contests. At second singles, Andhare won in straight sets against Wang, but needed an extra game in both sets, winning 7-5, 7-6 (3) to secure the point.
 
At one, Harinarayan opened with a 6-2 set win over Vennam before the Yellowjacket senior came roaring back with 7-5 and 6-3 wins to end the match on a high note for Rochester.
 
The Yellowjackets have Saturday off before returning to action on Sunday at UAA rival NYU.