April 9, 2009

Final Stats

EASTON, Pa. - The Navy men's tennis team completed its third-straight undefeated Patriot League regular season with a 7-0 victory over Lafayette on Thursday afternoon at the Sullivan Courts in Easton, Pa.

The Midshipmen, winners of 19-straight Patriot League regular season matches, improved to 16-7 on the year and 5-0 in league play. The Leopards dropped to 6-9 overall and 1-3 in Patriot League action.

Thursday's win kept alive the possibility of Navy earning the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament and a first-round bye. This year's championship will be held on April 17-19 in West Point. Team seeds and pairings will be announced by the league next week.

"Today was a good day for us, being able to win all the matches," stated Navy head coach John Officer. "To win 19-straight Patriot League matches is an impressive feat. We are looking forward to the Patriot League Tournament next weekend and hopefully we can find that next gear."

Navy won each of the doubles matches over Lafayette to claim the doubles point. The Navy third doubles duo of Owen Bullard (So./Concord, N.C.) and Eddie Konrad (Fr./Woodlands, Texas) defeated James Murphy and Andrew Morris, 8-4, before second doubles tandem Jason Hill (Sr./Marietta, Ga.) and Nick Birger (So./Belleville, Ill.) secured the point with a similar 8-4 win over Kyle MacClelland and Doug Gallagher. The Midshipmen first doubles team of Nate Nelms (Sr./St. Mary's, Ga.) and Johnny Waters (Sr./Papillion, Neb.) completed the sweep with an 8-5 victory over Eric Wiley and Lee Kojanis.

The Midshipmen carried their momentum from doubles play into singles action, winning all six matches. Hill was the first to finish for the Mids at No. 4 singles, as he defeated Steven Benezra 6-2, 6-0. Bullard soon followed at No. 6 singles with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over MacClelland before Ramsey Lemaich (Jr./Danville, Calif.) clinched the team win with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Murphy in the No. 5 singles slot.

Navy's Marcus Rebersak (Fr./Pittsburgh, Pa.) got the best of Lafayette's Justin Haar, 6-3, 7-6, at the No. 3 singles position, followed by a 6-3, 6-1 victory No. 2 singles win by Waters over Gallagher. Nelms completed the sweep at the No. 1 singles match against Wiley, battling back from a 4-6 setback in the opening set before winning the second set, 6-0, and the third-set 10-point match tiebreaker, 10-6.

Navy will close out the regular season this Saturday when it heads to Richmond (4-15) for a 12 noon contest.

Navy 7, Lafayette 0
Doubles - Navy wins the doubles point (match finish order: 3-2-1)
1. Nate Nelms / Johnny Waters (N) def. Eric Wiley / Lee Kojanis (L) 8-5
2. Jason Hill / Nick Birger (N) def. Kyle MacClelland / Doug Gallagher (L) 8-4
3. Owen Bullard / Eddie Konrad (N) def. James Murphy / Andrew Morris (L) 8-4
Singles (match finish order: 4-6-5-3-2-1)
1. Nate Nelms (N) def. Eric Wiley (L) 4-6, 6-0 (10-6)
2. Johnny Waters (N) def. Doug Gallagher (L) 6-3, 6-1
3. Marcus Rebersak (N) def. Justin Haar (L) 6-3, 7-6
4. Jason Hill (N) def. Steven Benezra (L) 6-2, 6-0
5. Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. James Murphy (L) 6-1, 6-4
6. Owen Bullard (N) def. Kyle MacClelland (L) 6-2, 6-1