March 13, 2007

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- After losing the doubles point to Eastern Kentucky, the Navy tennis team posted victories in four of the six singles matches to rally for a 4-3 victory over the Colonels, Tuesday at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla.

The victory snaps a five-match losing streak for the Mids and raises their record on the year to 6-8, while the Colonels fell to 8-6 on the season with the loss. Three of Navy's most recent five losses came to teams who hold a national ranking.

"We played a much improved match today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "Eastern Kentucky recently beat UNC Greensboro, who we lost to by a score of 4-3 last week. We are getting closer to where we need to be in time for the start of the Patriot League season."

Navy's No. 1 doubles team of Jason Hill (So. Marietta, Ga.) and Nate Nelms (So., St. Mary's, Ga.) won its match Tuesday, but the Colonels won the remaining two matches to claim the lone available doubles point. The deciding contest was a 9-7 victory by Chad Becker and Frederico Goncalves over the Navy duo of Alex James (Jr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (Fr., Danville, Calif.) at the No. 3 flight.

The Mids then went out and won four of the six singles matches, including a trio of matches which were extended into a third set, to rally for the victory.

James had one of the top performances on the day for Navy as he recorded a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 6 singles over Vadzim Ivanis.

"Alex lost the first set decisively, but responded by winning the next two sets the same way," said Officer. "It was a great turnaround by him."

Also winning in three sets for Navy were Hill at No. 2 singles and Adrian Lai (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) at No. 3. Hill recorded a 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 over Lars Gratzki, while Lai posted a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over Becker.

Navy's lone straight-set victory on the day was a 6-2, 6-2 triumph recorded by Stanley Kahl (Sr., Richland, Pa.) against Zach Itzstein at No. 4 singles.

"Stanley played fantastic today," said Officer.

Navy will remain in Florida for a Wednesday afternoon match at Florida Atlantic. The match is slated to begin at 12 Noon in Boca Raton.

"We will have to play better tomorrow against Florida Atlantic than we did today," said Officer.

Navy (6-8) def. Eastern Kentucky (8-6), 4-3
Doubles -- EKU wins the doubles point
1 - Hill/Nelms (N) def. Itzstein/Kiefer, 8-4
2 - Gratzki/Mario Simic (EKU) def. Kahl/Lai, 8-5
3 - Becker/Frederico Goncalves (EKU) def. James/Lemaich, 9-7
Singles
1 - Florian Kiefer (EKU) def. Nate Nelms, 7-6, 6-4
2 - Jason Hill (N) def. Lars Gratzki, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
3 - Adrian Lai (N) def. Chad Becker, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
4 - Stanley Kahl (N) def. Zach Itzstein, 6-2, 6-2
5 - Max Schindler (EKU) def. Ramsey Lemaich, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)
6 - Alex James (N) def. Vadzim Ivanis, 1-6, 6-1, 6-1