Jan. 23, 2010
Final Stats
RICHMOND, Va. -- The Navy men's tennis team had a tough first day of the season as the Mids dropped a pair of matches at the VCU 4+1 Invitational in Richmond, Va. Navy opened the season with a 4-1 loss to James Madison before suffering a 3-2 loss to Campbell.
"We entered today with a lot of question marks in our lineup," said Navy head coach John Officer. "Did we have guys in the right position? Did they have the confidence to win where we placed them? We have a pretty inexperience team and I saw some tentativeness out there, but we feel more confident about our team and where everyone is playing at now than we did at the start of the day."
Navy's lone win in the match against the Blue Dukes was a 7-6 (4), 6-4 doubles win by the team of Jeremy New (Jr., Glen Allen, Va.) and Zach Nicholson (So., Bowie, Md.). Additionally, both Owen Bullard (Jr., Concord, N.C.) at No. 1 singles and Marcus Rebersak (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) at No. 2 singles dropped three-set matches. Bullard lost, 6-4 in the third, to Mike Smith, while Rebersak dropped a 6-2 third set to Greg Vladimirsky.
The Camels quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Mids with wins at No. 1 singles and in doubles. The first Navy point of the match came when New won a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 decision over David Clavera at No. 4 singles. The Mids evened the score at two wins apiece when Anderson Walls (Fr., Alpharetta, Ga.) won a 6-4, 6-4 match over Josep Baro at No. 3 singles. That left Rebersak's match against Beto Mondini at No. 2 singles to decide the overall outcome.
Mondini won the first set, 6-4, then Rebersak won the second set, 7-5, to extend the match. Mondini would eventually pick up the final point for the Camels when he won the third set by the score of 6-3.
"Anderson and Jeremy were two of the guys we weren't sure how they would respond to being in the lineup," said Officer. "But both of them played pretty well today. They really stepped up for us. Also, Marcus had two close matches and could have come away with two wins himself.
"We feel we can be a pretty good team, but we know it is going to take some time until we gain more experience."
Navy will open the home portion of its season Saturday when the Mids play host to St. Joseph's (9 a.m.) and St. Francis of N.Y. (5 p.m.). Both of those matches will be contested indoors at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
James Madison (1-1) def. Navy (0-1), 4-1
Match finish order: 3-4-Doubles-2-1
Singles
1. Smith, Mike (JMU) def. Bullard, Owen (NAVY), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. Vladimirsky, Greg (JMU) def. Rebersak, Marcus (NAVY), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
3. Nissinen, Tommi (JMU) def. Richmond, Matt (NAVY), 6-4, 6-0
4. Hardy, Stephen (JMU) def. Konrad, Eddie (NAVY), 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles
1. New, Jeremy / Nicholson, Zach (NAVY) def. King, Matt / Voznenko, Yaroslav (JMU), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
Campbell (1-1) def. Navy (0-2), 3-2
Match finish order: 1-Doubles-4-3-2
Singles
1. Lamzouri, Larbi (CAMP) def. Bullard, Owen (NAVY) 6-0, 6-2
2. Mondini, Beto (CAMP) def. Rebersak, Marcus (NAVY) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
3. Walls, Anderson (NAVY) def. Baro, Josep (CAMP) 6-4, 6-4
4. New, Jeremy (NAVY) def. Clavera, David (CAMP) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
1. Kralik, Ondrej / Wallart, Loukas (CAMP) def. Birger, Nick / Gutsche, Nicholas (NAVY) 6-2, 6-4
