Edinboro 5, Kutztown 3 (HTML Box Score) NCAA Tournament Central CHARLESTON, W. Va. – Despite opening with three doubles victories, the Kutztown University men's tennis team could not hold off the conference champions in Edinboro University in singles play as it fell 5-3 in a NCAA Second Round match on Sunday afternoon, hosted by the University of Charleston.
The Golden Bears (15-6) faced the Fighting Scots (19-8) for the third time this season. Kutztown won an indoor match in the fall, but Edinboro took the PSAC Championship match and now a NCAA Tournament match. KU closes its season with 15 victories, the most since the 2008-09 season, while Edinboro advances to the Sweet 16 in Orlando, Florida.
The doubles team of
Rushi Amin (Orefield, PA/Lake Brantley) and
Varun Desai (Mumbai, India/K.C. College) played their final match together in the Maroon and Gold on Sunday. With an 8-1 win at the top flight of doubles, the duo won their 19th match of the season and 31st of their careers, marking the third-most wins for a team in school history.
Amin is one of two seniors for the Golden Bears, along with
Bilawal Suri (Kolkata, India/Calcutta International), and closes his career with 118 combined victories, tying him for ninth in school history. His 61 doubles wins rank sixth. He was recently named the KU Male Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Kutztown's second- and third-flight of doubles each won 8-3.
Rich Lichtenwalner (Allentown, Pa./Parkland) and
Ben Nace (Spring Grove, Pa./Delone Catholic) teamed for their eighth win of the season at No. 2 doubles, and Matthew Maguire and
Ken Beebe (Landenberg, Pa./Kennett) won their ninth doubles matches at the third-flight.
With a 3-0 lead, Kutztown seemingly lost all momentum as Edinboro roared back to win each of the top five singles matches. Kutztown's closest match was at No. 2 singles. Desai won the opening set 6-3, but dropped a 6-1 second set to force a tiebreaker. Unfortunately for Desai, Edinboro's Bruno Borja took a 6-3 final set for the match win.
This was the second straight year that Kutztown has qualified for the NCAA Tournament, as well as the second straight year it won an opening round match/
It marked Kutztown's 14th appearance in the NCAA Division II championship tournament. The Golden Bears are now 18-14 overall in the NCAA tournament since making their first appearance in 1998.
