Oct. 19, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A trio of players from the Navy tennis team finished play over the weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Regional Championship in New Haven, Conn.
The tournament began Thursday with Johnny Waters (Sr., Papillion, Neb.) splitting his two singles matches in the qualifying draw. After winning a three-set match over Justen Roth from Penn, he lost in straight sets to Yale's Joel Samaha.
"Johnny played very well in his opening match against Roth," said Navy head coach John Officer. "He used his entire array of shots. That's the type of match he has to play in order to be successful. In his second match, however, he tried to hit too much with Samaha and didn't change things up enough."
Friday then began with Navy's doubles team of Waters and Nate Nelms (Sr., St. Mary's, Ga.) dropping an 8-5 decision to the UMBC tandem of Nick Savage-Pollock and Fredi Voorman.
"It was disappointing," said Officer of the doubles loss. "Give the UMBC team the credit. They played very well."
The main draw of 128 players in singles saw Jason Hill (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) lose a 6-2, 6-4 decision to Milo Hauk of St. John's on Friday, with Nelms, who received a first round bye, falling in three sets to Uguy Atalay from George Washington in Saturday's second round. Atalay won the opening set by the score of 6-4, with Nelms winning the second set by an identical score. The final set between the two players would be extended into a tiebreaker, with Atalay winning by the score of 7-3.
"Nate played a great match against Atalay," said Officer. "There was some great tennis played by both players."
The fall season continues for the Navy tennis team this weekend when the Midshipmen take part in the Cornell Fall Invitational starting Friday.
Thursday
Qualifying Draw
QR-1 - Johnny Waters def. Justen Roth (Penn), 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2
QR-2 - Joel Samaha (Yale) def. Johnny Waters, 6-1, 6-1
Friday
Main Singles Draw
R-128 - Milo Hauk (St. John's) def. Jason Hill, 6-2, 6-4
R-128 - Nate Nelms - Bye
Doubles
R-64 - Nick Savage-Pollock / Fredi Voorman (UMBC) def. Nate Nelms / Johnny Waters, 8-5
Saturday
Main Singles Draw
R-64 - Uguy Atalay (George Washington) def. Nate Nelms, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)
