Feb. 10, 2008

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy tennis team improved its record to 6-2 on the season with a 7-0 victory over UNC Greensboro, Sunday afternoon at the Tose Family Tennis Center.

"It was good for us to bounce back after Saturday's match (a 7-0 loss to No. 75 Maryland)," said Navy head coach John Officer. "Greensboro has a very competitive team and they beat us last year, so for a number of reasons we were eager for today's match. I felt everyone played exceptionally well today. This is a good confidence boost for us heading into the second half of the winter season."

Just like last year's match between the two teams, Navy won the doubles point Sunday. The Mids secured the point with victories at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles before a tight No. 2 doubles match was completed. Eventually, Navy's duo of Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) were able to defeat the team of William John and Yaroslav Litus, 9-8, with the Mids winning the tiebreaker by the score of 7-4.

Unlike last year, however, when the Spartans proceeded to win four of the six singles matches to hand the Mids a 4-3 defeat, Navy quickly won four singles matches in straight sets to clinch the team victory. The score soon became 6-0 when James overcame a 5-2 deficit in the second set of his match at No. 5 singles against Taylor Befus to record a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory.

That left the match of the day between Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary's, Ga.) and Andrey Bubnov at the No. 1 flight still on the court. Bubnov, who posted a 6-3, 6-3 win over Nelms last year in Greensboro, took a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Nelms proceeded to break Bubnov's serve twice and hold serve once to win the next three games and tie the set at 5-5. Bubnov promptly broke Nelms to go up 6-5, then held serve to win the first set by the score of 7-5.

After Bubnov took a 4-3 lead midway through the second set, Nelms won the next three games to win the set by the score of 6-4. A 10-point tiebreaker was used in place of a complete third set and it began with Bubnov winning three of the opening four points. As he did throughout the over two and one-half hour match, Nelms rallied and won the next six points to take a 7-3 lead. The players traded points to make the score 8-4 then, after Bubnov won the ensuing point to cut the margin to 8-5, Nelms tallied back-to-back points to end the marathon.

The win improved Navy's record to 2-1 on the season against teams who had defeated the Mids during the 2007 campaign. Navy previously posted a 6-1 victory over Georgetown (after dropping a 5-2 decision to the Hoyas last year) and lost to Maryland (a 6-1 Navy loss in 2007).

Navy will face St. Joseph's (12 Noon) and George Mason (5 p.m.) this coming Saturday at the Tose Family Tennis Center.

Navy def. UNC Greensboro, 7-0
Doubles (Navy wins the doubles point)
1. Nelms/Waters, Johnny (N) def. Bubnov/Kumdereli, 8-3
2. James/Lemaich (N) def. John/Litus, 9-8 (7-4)
3. Nick Birger/Hill (N) def. Befus/Clark, 8-4
Singles
1. Nate Nelms (N) def. Andrey Bubnov, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5)
2. Johnny Waters (N) def. Arsel Kumdereli, 6-4, 6-1
3. Jason Hill (N) def. Yaroslav Litus, 6-3, 6-1
4. Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. William John, 6-2, 6-4
5. Alex James (N) def. Taylor Befus, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Joe Wiggins (N) def. Andrew Clark, 6-1, 6-1