March 7, 2009
Final Stats
ANNAPOLIS, MD. - Down a set, senior captain Jason Hill (Marietta, Ga.) battled back to capture the deciding singles point with a three-set victory to lift the Navy men's tennis team to a hard-fought 4-3 win over UMBC on Saturday afternoon at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
The win snaps the Mids' recent four-match losing skid and improves the team's overall mark on the year to 9-5, while the Retrievers, who recorded a 4-3 victory over Navy last April in Annapolis, fall to 3-4.
"This was an excellent win for us," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We were playing without our No. 1 singles player (Nate Nelms) so everyone had to move up a slot, which is a difficult thing to do. It all came down to our senior captain and Jason really came through and did an excellent job for us."
Navy opened the day by taking the doubles point. After falling at No. 1, junior Ramsey Lemaich (Danville, Calif.) and Alex James scored an 8-6 victory over UMBC's Chris Meyer and Logan Bricker at No. 3 doubles. Hill and Nick Birger then followed with a 8-4 win to clinch the point and put the Mids ahead, 1-0.
With wins from Lemaich and sophomore Owen Bullard (Concord, N.C.) at the No. 4 and No. 5 singles spots, respectively, Navy closed in on the match victory by forging ahead with a 3-0 lead.
Lemaich improved to 3-1 when in the No. 4 spot in the lineup this season with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tsang. Meanwhile, Bullard won a straight set decision (6-3, 6-4) over Adewumi to collect his team-leading 16th overall.
The Retrievers rallied back by reeling off three straight wins (two coming in straight-set fashion) on courts one, two and six to draw even in the match and set the stage for Hill's heroics.
After falling in a first set tiebreak, Hill found himself in an early hole against UMBC's Chris Meyer. The Mids' senior leader, however, would prove up to the challenge and claimed the next two sets 7-5 and 6-3 to take the match.
The Mids will be back in action on Sunday when they host Delaware at noon.
Navy d. UMBC, 4-3
Doubles --Navy wins the doubles point (order of finish: 1-3-2)
1: Savage-Pollock & Voorman (UMBC) d. Nelms & Waters, 8-6
2: Birger & Hill (N) d. Adewumi & Tsang, 8-4
3: Lemaich & James (N) d. Meyer & Bricker, 8-6
Singles (order of finish: 4, 5, 1, 6, 2, 3)
1: Nick Savage-Pollock (UMBC) d. Marcus Rebersak, 6-4, 7-5
2: Fredi Voorman (UMBC) d. Johnny Waters, 7-6 (3), 6-2
3: Jason Hill (N) d. Chris Meyer, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3
4: Ramsey Lemaich (N) d. Allen Tsang, 6-3, 6-2
5: Owen Bullard (N) d. Joseph Adewumi, 6-3, 6-4
6: Logan Bricker (UMBC) d. Nick Birger, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
# GO NAVY! #
