April 8, 2008

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- UMBC won the doubles point and rallied to record three singles wins and post a 4-3 victory over the Navy tennis team Tuesday afternoon at the Tose Family Tennis Center in Annapolis.

"This was our most disappointing loss of the season, and the comparison is not even close," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We didn't get it done in doubles and then won six first sets in singles, but could only win three of those matches. We had UMBC down but we had guys who couldn't finish the job. It is back to the drawing board for us."

The Retrievers (11-4) won the doubles point by winning the first two matches to be completed. Chris Meyer and Fredi Voorman recorded an 8-4 win over Nick Birger (Fr., Belleville, Ill.) and Jason Hill (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) at No. 3 doubles, then David Jackson and Irfan Shamasdin posted a 9-7 win over Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary's, Ga.) and Johnny Waters (Jr., Papillion, Neb.) at No. 1 doubles.

The remaining doubles match also featured a final score of 9-7, with Navy's No. 2 tandem of Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) emerging with the win over Fernando Ferreira and Nick Savage-Pollock.

Navy (15-8) seemed to recover from losing the doubles point by winning the opening set of each of the six singles matches. Hill quickly evened the team score at 1-1 when he won a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Shamasdin at No. 3 singles. Voorman would tally a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over James at No. 5 singles to give UMBC a 2-1 lead, then in a matter of minutes the score was tied again at 2-2 as Nelms posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Meyer at No. 1 singles.

The Mids would take their first advantage of the afternoon when Owen Bullard (Fr., Concord, N.C.) won a 7-5, 7-5 contest against Logan Bricker at No. 6 singles, meaning Navy had to win just one of the remaining two matches to pick up the overall team victory.

Savage-Pollock made the score 3-3, however, following his 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Waters, then David Jackson rallied from a 6-4 deficit in a third-set tiebreaker to record an 8-6 win in the breaker over Lemaich to win his match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, and clinch the victory for the Retrievers.

Navy will look to bounce back from the loss this weekend with matches at home against Lehigh on Saturday and George Washington on Sunday. Both matches are slated to begin at 12 Noon and, weather permitting, will be played outdoors on The Yard.

UMBC (11-4) def. Navy (15-8), 4-3
Doubles -- UMBC wins the doubles point (match finish order: 3-1-2)
1 - Jackson / Shamasdin (UMBC) def. Nelms / Waters, 9-7
2 - James / Lemaich (Navy) def. Fernando Ferreira / Savage-Pollock, 9-7
3 - Meyer / Voorman (UMBC) def. Nick Birger / Hill, 8-4

Singles (match finish order: 3-5-1-6-2-4)
1 - Nate Nelms (Navy) def. Chris Meyer, 6-2, 6-3
2 - Nick Savage-Pollock (UMBC) def. Johnny Waters, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3 - Jason Hill (Navy) def. Irfan Shamasdin, 6-0, 6-1
4 - David Jackson (UMBC) def. Ramsey Lemaich, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
5 - Fredi Voorman (UMBC) def. Alex James, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
6 - Owen Bullard (Navy) def. Logan Bricker, 7-5, 7-5