Feb. 18, 2006

ANNAPOLIS, Md.-The Navy tennis team won its fifth and sixth-straight contests Saturday afternoon at the Severn Valey Tennis Club with a 6-1 victory over St. Joseph's (3-2) and a 5-0 win over George Mason (0-2). The two wins improve Navy's record to 7-1 on the year.

"I was real pleased with our guys today, we showed some good depth with three non-starters stepping in and winning against George Mason," said Navy head tennis coach John Officer.

In the opener against St. Joseph's, Navy won the doubles point as Brandon Carter and Nate Nelms won at No. 1 (9-7) and John Waters and Jason Hill won at No. 3 (8-3).

The Mids won five of the six singles matches as Nelms won at No. 1 (6-3, 7-5), Hill at No.2 (6-2, 3-6, 10-5), Carter at No. 4 (6-3, 6-2), Stanley Kahl at No. 5 (4-6, 7-6(5), 10-6) and Waters at No. 6 (6-1, 6-4).

"This was a good win, we played very well against St. Joseph's," said Officer. "Nelms did a great job of coming back in his match when he was tied 5-5 in the second set."

Against George Mason, Navy swept the first four singles matches as Nelms won at No. 1 (6-2, 6-2), Adrian Lai at No. 2 (6-2, 6-1), Kahl at No. 3 (6-1, 6-1) and Alex James at No. 4 (6-0, 6-0).

The doubles team of Nathan Malnati and Billy Griffin won at No.1, 6-3, 6-1, to clinch the win for the Midshipmen.

"We played extremely well against George Mason," said Officer. "I was extremely pleased with the way Nelms played at No. 1 and with Alex James, who is a non-starter, winning at No. 4. He was our player of the day."

Navy will be back in action next Saturday when they play host to Yale at Severn Valley at 12 noon.