March 22, 2008

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy tennis team put on a strong performance Saturday to record a 6-1 victory over Richmond at the Tose Family Tennis Center in Annapolis. The Mids swept the three doubles matches and won five singles matches in straight sets.

In the five singles victories recorded by Navy, the Mids won four sets by the score of 6-0 and an additional three sets by the tally of 6-1. The remaining three sets won by the Mids saw Navy lose a combined nine games.

"We played a good, solid match today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "This was the type of performance we wanted to have today."

Navy's Nick Birger (Fr., Belleville, Ill.) and Jason Hill (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) recorded an 8-3 victory over Sami Belakhlef and David Berry at No. 3 doubles, then the No. 1 tandem of Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary's, Ga.) and Johnny Waters (Fr., Acworth, Ga.) posted an 8-3 win against Drew Crank and Mike Sommer to give the Mids a 1-0 lead after the conclusion of the doubles matches.

Hill was also the first player off of the courts in singles as he did not lose a game in defeating Belakhlef at No. 3 singles. Finishing next for Navy was Owen Bullard (Fr., Concord, N.C.) at No. 6 singles as he picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win over Crank. Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.) then tallied the winning point for Navy with his 6-0, 6-2 victory over Rafael Arana at No. 5 singles.

The next match to finish was the No. 1 contest where Nelms posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Doug Banker, then the last victory of the day for Navy came at No. 4 singles when Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) recorded a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Will Minter.

The last contest to be completed was the No. 2 match between Waters and Sommer. Waters was down 3-0 and a break of serve in the first set before winning the next six games to win the set and take a 1-0 lead. Sommer broke Waters' serve to begin the second set, then broke him again to take a 4-1 lead before winning the set by the score of 6-2 and evening the match at one set apiece. The duo then played a tiebreaker instead of a complete set to determine the outcome of the match.

Waters trailed 3-1 at the start of the tiebreaker before winning the next four points to take a 5-3 lead. The duo traded the two ensuing points to give Waters a 6-4 advantage, but Sommer scored the next six points to win the tiebreaker by the score of 10-6.

Of the 16 points played during the tiebreaker, the player serving the point won only five points.

The win boosted Navy's record on the year to 13-7, while Richmond, winners of four of the last six Atlantic 10 Conference titles, fell to 3-13 on the season.

Four of Navy's remaining six matches are against Patriot League opponents, with this closing stretch beginning next weekend when the Mids play at Colgate Saturday and at Bucknell the following day.

"We have a lot of confidence heading into the heart of our league schedule," said Officer. "We know we are going to have to play well against all of our league opponents."

Navy (13-7) def. Richmond (3-13), 6-1
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (match finish order: 3-1-2)
1. Nelms / Waters (N) def. Crank / Sommer, 8-3
2. James / Lemaich (N) def. Banker / Minter, 8-4
3. Nick Birger / Hill (N) def. Belakhlef / David Berry, 8-3
Singles -- (match finish order: 3-6-5-1-4-2)
1. Nate Nelms (N) def. Doug Banker, 6-3, 6-1
2. Mike Sommer (R) def. Johnny Waters, 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-6)
3. Jason Hill (N) def. Sami Belakhlef, 6-0, 6-0
4. Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Will Minter, 6-4, 6-0
5. Alex James (N) def. Rafael Arana, 6-0, 6-2
6. Owen Bullard (N) def. Drew Crank, 6-1, 6-1