April 17, 2008
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Army and Navy tennis teams will face each other for the 82nd time in series history Saturday afternoon when the Midshipmen play host to the Black Knights in Annapolis. The match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. on the grounds of the Naval Academy. Should poor weather force the match to be played indoors, it will be moved to the nearby Tose Family Tennis Center.
Fans attending the tennis match are reminded that only vehicles with Department of Defense stickers are allowed to drive onto the grounds of the U.S. Naval Academy. For all others, it is suggested they park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and ride the shuttle bus to-and-from The Yard. For those fans planning on utilizing that option, please make sure to allow ample time getting into the stadium parking lots due to the Navy-Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse game that takes place starting at 12 Noon.
In addition to the traditional Star at stake between the two teams Saturday, the winner of the match is likely to receive the No. 1 seed -- and a quarterfinal-round bye -- in the upcoming Patriot League Tournament.
"We look forward to our match with Army," said Navy head coach John Officer. "I feel we are playing well at the right time. We had two very close matches against Army last year and I expect this year to be very competitive, as well. This also is the last home match for Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.), our captain this year, so we would like to send him out on a winning note."
The last two years has seen the Mids win three-straight meetings with the Black Knights. Included in this span were a pair of Navy victories over Army during the 2007 season; a 4-3 win at West Point during the regular season and a 4-0 victory in the championship match of the league tournament in Annapolis.
The Star Match was a four-and-one-half hour nailbiter between the two teams. The Mids took a 1-0 lead after winning the doubles point, with Navy's two wins coming by the scores of 9-7 and 8-6. Three of the six singles match proceeded to be extended into three sets and a total of four individual set tiebreakers were played in the contest.
Navy again won two of the three doubles matches against Army to claim the doubles point in the rematch between the two teams, with four singles matches being sent into a third set on the afternoon.
The Mids return five of the seven players who competed against Army last year, while a trio of Black Knights who faced Navy a year ago are back.
Navy's Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary's, Ga.) and Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) were both a combined 4-0 against Army last year, while teammate James won all three of his completed singles and doubles matches over the Black Knights last season. Returning for Army is Eddie Kang, the school record holder in career singles wins, who was a combined 3-0 in his completed matches against Navy last season.
Both James and Kang were leading their respective singles matches in the final of the league tournament when play was stopped due to Navy already attaining their match-clinching fourth point.
Navy enters the match with a 4-0 record against Patriot League opponents and a 17-8 mark on the year, while Army has posted an overall record of 14-6 and a league record of 5-0 this season.
The Mids hold a 51-30 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1922-23 season.
