Men's Tennis | 9/30/2022 5:40:00 PM

MADISON, N.J. - Sophomore Aiden Drover-Mattinen won both of his singles matches by scores of 6-0, 6-0 and three other individuals from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) men's tennis team went 2-0 to advance to the Round of 16 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional hosted by Drew University.

The top seed in the 64-competitor field, Drover-Mattinen defeated foes from Oneonta and Ramapo without dropping a set. Freshman Andy Zhu, the No. 3 seed, also went 2-0 with wins of 7-5, 6-1 (NYU) and 6-0, 6-0 (Union) and so did RPI's two other seeded players.

Sophomore Igor Visnevskij and senior Abraham Yohannes, both of whom are in the No. 5-8 range, will also play in singles on Saturday. Visnevskij won 6-1, 6-1 in the first round (Yeshiva) before battling into the third set for his second victory, 6-4, 1-6, 12-10 over a foe from Union. Yohannes had a pair of straight set victories, going 6-0, 6-2 (Scranton) and 6-3, 6-3 (RIT).

In doubles, RPI has two of the eight seeded squads with Drover-Mattinen and Zhu at No. 1 and Max Safanov and Visnevskij at No. 5-8. Drover-Mattinen and Zhu won 8-6 (Lebanon Valley) in the first round and 8-0 in the second (Rochester), while Safanov and Visnevskij prevailed 8-7 (3) against a duo from St. Lawrence and 8-1 over a team from Ithaca. 

Yohannes and Sid Srinivasan won their first round match but lost in the second.

Action continues on Saturday in both singles (9am) and doubles (3pm).