Sept. 13, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy tennis team posted wins in nine of the 12 matches contested against Richmond Saturday on the second day of the Navy Invitational at the Tose Family Tennis Center in Annapolis.

"It was an up-and-down day for us," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We played well in doubles and our seniors played extremely well in all of their matches. There are performance goals we want players to meet during a match and the seniors met all of them today. We did struggle at five and six singles, though. We need to be better at those positions."

Leading the Navy efforts on the day was team captain Jason Hill (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) who posted a 6-3, 6-0 win over Rafael Arana at No. 3 singles and teamed with Nick Birger (So., Belleville, Ill.) to record an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles against the team of Sami Belakhef and Michael Sommer. Birger would also win his singles match Saturday, a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win over A.J. Nelson at No. 7 singles.

Hill's classmate Johnny Waters (Sr., Papillion, Neb.) only played singles against the Spiders, but he posted a 6-0, 6-3 win over Belakhef.

Ramsey Lemaich (Jr., Danville, Calif.) also had a strong day for the Mids. He and Owen Bullard (So., Concord, N.C.) won an 8-6 decision over Sam Hyland and Dylan Schrode at No. 2 doubles before he recorded 6-2, 6-4 win over Matt Feeley at No. 4 singles. The lone additional Mid to win a pair of matches on the day was Eddie Konrad (Fr., Woodlands, Texas). He first teamed up with Zach Nicholson (Fr., Bowie, Md.) to win an 8-2 match against Feeley and Chester Murray at No. 4 doubles, then won a 6-2, 6-1 contest against Murray at No. 8 singles.

Sunday's matches at the Navy Invitational feature the combined team of Arkansas and Oklahoma playing Richmond at 8 a.m., as well as Navy playing host to Maryland at 2 p.m. Both matches are expected to be played at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Navy vs. Richmond (played indoors at Tose Family Tennis Center)
Doubles
1 - Birger/Hill (N) def. Belakhef/Sommer, 8-4
2 - Bullard/Lemaich (N) def. Hyland/Schrode, 8-6
3 - Jarrad Smoke/Jared Teichman (N) def. Arana/Nelson 8-5
4 - Konrad/Nicholson (N) def. Feeley/Murray, 8-2

Singles
1 - Michael Sommer (UR) def. Jared Teichman, 6-3, 6-1
2 - Johnny Waters (N) def. Sami Belakhef, 6-0, 6-3
3 - Jason Hill (N) def. Rafael Arana, 6-3, 6-0
4 - Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Matt Feeley, 6-2, 6-4
5 - Dylan Schrode (UR) def. Zach Nicholson, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
6 - Sam Hyland (UR) def. Owen Bullard, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
7 - Nick Birger (N) def. A.J. Nelson, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
8 - Eddie Konrad (N) def. Chester Murray, 6-2, 6-1

Navy vs. Maryland
Doubles
4 - Luke Albi / Mike Eisenberg (Navy) def. Knowlton/Potarazu (MD), 8-6

Singles
7 - Jeremy New (Navy) def. Graham Knowlton (MD), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (1)
8 - Joe Wiggins (Navy) def. Roshan Potarazu (MD), 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6)