March 25, 2007

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy tennis team recorded its second Patriot League victory in as many days Sunday with a 7-0 triumph over Bucknell at the Naval Academy Tennis Courts. The win comes one day after Navy opened its league season with a hard-fought 4-3 win over Colgate.

"It was a very competitive match that was much closer than the overall score indicates," said Navy head coach John Officer. "Bucknell is a very solid team.

"Our key today was that we mentally played like champions. We handled adversity well. When in tough situations, we responded with positive plays. This team practices hard and it is a matter of being able to consistently carry that play over into matches."

The Mids began the day by winning each of the three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Navy posted identical 8-3 wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles, then completed the three-match sweep with a 9-7 win at the No. 3 flight by the team of Alex James (Jr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (Fr., Danville, Calif.) over Bucknell's duo of Daniel Bednarek and Ben Young.

In the singles portion of the meet, Navy's lower four players in the lineup all posted straight set victories, with no Navy player losing more than a combined seven games in any of their matches. Team captain Adrian Lai (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) recorded a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles over Zach Hascoe, Stanley Kahl (Sr., Richland, Pa.) posted a 6-0, 6-3 win over Young at No. 4 singles, James won a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Jonathan Brenner at No. 5 singles and Lemaich tallied a 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Bednarek at No. 6 singles.

In contrast, however, the top two singles matches featured a pair of very competitive matches. The first set of the No. 2 singles match between Navy's Johnny Waters (So., Papillion, Neb.) and Bucknell's Ryan Sandburg was extended to a tiebreaker, which Waters won by a score of 8-6. Waters then won the match after taking the second set by a score of 7-5.

At No. 1 singles, Navy's Nate Nelms (So., St. Mary's, Ga.) dropped the first set by a score of 7-5 to Ira Reibeisen, then evened the match at one set apiece with a 6-1 victory in the second set. Instead of playing a complete third set, the duo played a tiebreaker to decide the match, which Nelms won by a score of 10-3.

In addition to being 2-0 in league matches, the victory also improved Navy's overall record on the year to 8-10. Playing its opening league match of the season Sunday, the Bison fell to 4-9 on the year with the setback to the Mids.

Navy will begin a busy week consisting of three road matches over a span of five days Wednesday when the Midshipmen play at Richmond.

Navy (8-10, 2-0 Patriot League) def. Bucknell (4-9, 0-1 Patriot League), 7-0

Doubles (Navy wins the double point)
1 - Nelms/Waters (N) def. Brenner/Sandburg, 8-3
2 - Kahl/Lai (N) def. Hascoe/Reibeisen, 8-3
3 - James/Lemaich (N) def. Bednarek/Young, 9-7

Singles
1 - Nate Nelms (N) def. Ira Reibeisen, 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-3)
2 - Johnny Waters (N) def. Ryan Sandburg, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5
3 - Adrian Lai (N) def. Zach Hascoe, 6-4, 6-3
4 - Stanley Kahl (N) def. Ben Young, 6-0, 6-3
5 - Alex James (N) def. Jonathan Brenner, 6-2, 6-2
6 - Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Daniel Bednarek, 6-4, 6-0