Feb. 21, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Navy men's tennis team rallied after losing the doubles point to tie Yale, but Jeff Dawson won a three-set match at number one singles to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 victory over the Midshipmen, Saturday afternoon in New Haven, Conn.

"We started off kind of slow in the doubles, but we played excellent in the singles," said Navy head coach John Officer.

Yale (4-2) surrendered just 12 games in sweeping the three doubles matches from Navy (8-2) to start the day, but Navy responded with victories at Nos. 4-5-6 singles to tie the match at three points apiece. Picking up wins for the Mids were Jason Hill (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) at No. 4 singles, Ramsey Lemaich (Jr., Danville, Calif.) at No. 5 singles and Owen Bullard (So., Concord, N.C.) won a three-set match at No. 6 singles.

Even the two matches the Mids dropped at Nos. 2 and 3 singles were very close. Marcus Rebersak (Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa.) lost a 6-3, 6-3 decision at No. 2 singles, while Johnny Waters (Sr., Papillion, Neb.) lost a 7-5, 7-6 contest at No. 3 singles.

That left the No. 1 singles match between Dawson and Nate Nelms (Sr., St. Mary's Ga.) to decided the outcome of the overall dual. Dawson won the first set by the score of 6-4, then Nelms evened the match with a 6-1 win in the second set. Dawson would eventually prevail by the score of 6-4 in the third set to allow the Bulldogs to pick up the home victory.

"We had chances to win the match with how we played in singles," said Officer. "It was a great college tennis match. Every set was close. I am very proud of our effort today, especially with coming back after losing in doubles. This is a big improvement for us from the fall. Yale is considered one of the top eight teams in the region and we are several places below them. The end result was not what we wanted, but we have a lot of positives to take away from today."

Navy will look to get back on track Sunday when the Mids face Penn in Philadelphia.

Yale def, Navy, 4-3
Doubles - Yale wins the doubles point
1 - Caldwell / C. Dawson (Y) def. Nelms / Waters, 8-2
2 - Blumenkranz / J. Dawson (Y) def. Bullard / Lemaich, 8-4
Josh Lederman / Samaha (Y) def. Nick Birger / Hill, 8-6
Singles
1 - Jeff Dawson (Y) def. Nate Nelms, 6-4,1-6,6-4
2 - Michael Caldwell (Y) def. Marcus Rebersak, 6-3,6-3
3 - Connor Dawson (Y) def. Johnny Waters, 7-5,7-6
4 - Jason Hill (N) def. Joel Samaha, 6-4,7-6
5 - Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Erik Blumenkranz, 6-4,6-3
6 - Owen Bullard (B) def. Tom Santoro, 4-6,7-5,6-0