Oct. 31, 2010

Final Stats

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Navy men's tennis team concluded its fall season this weekend with four members of the program competing at the Cornell Fall Invitational.

Advancing the deepest in any of the singles draws for the Mids was Heyward Drayton (Fr., Valley Forge, Pa.), who finished in third place in the B flight. After receiving an opening round bye in the draw, he posted a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Buffalo's Jason Shkodnik in the second round. Cornell's Charles Quay then recorded a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Drayton in the semifinal round, but Drayton bounced back to tally a 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 1-0 (10-8) victory over Army's Allen Xu in the third-place match.

Drayton and classmate Chris Kenney (Fr., Westlake Village, Calif.) also had a strong showing in doubles. The duo won a pair of matches before losing an 8-6 decision to Cornell's tandem of Spencer Clark and Brett Cromwell in the final of the B flight.

Zach Nicholson (Jr., Bowie, Md.) joined Drayton in the championship half of his singles bracket. Competing in the A-1 flight, he lost just six games in posting a straight-set win over Cornell's Jared Karson in the opening round. He would eventually find himself in the seventh-place match where he lost a pair of sets that were extended into tiebreakers to Alex Holland of Army.

Both Nick Birger (Sr., Belleville, Ill.) and Kenney faced seeded players from Cornell in their respective opening round matches in the A-2 flight in singles. Birger lost a 6-4, 6-0 decision to the flight's top-seeded player, Andy Gautheir, while Kenney fell to the No. 3 seed, Mirza Klis, by the score of 6-4, 6-4 in his initial match. Birger would go on to split his remaining two matches in the consolation draw, while Kenney dropped the only additional match he played.

Navy's remaining doubles team consisted of Birger and Nicholson. The duo lost in a tiebreaker, 7-5, to Army's team of Holland and Donald Van Velzer in the first round. The Mids would eventually lose in the finals of the consolation draw by the score of 8-6 to Steve Herchko and Max Rubin from Duquesne.

"Great showing by our freshmen at the tournament in both singles and doubles" said Navy assistant coach John Moreland, who traveled with the team this weekend. "And for a first-time doubles team of Zach and Nick, they played well in making it to the consolation final of their flight.

"It was a very competitive tournament across the board with every player. We had a lot of close matches and even though we didn't win as many as we wanted to, the results could have very easily gone our way. It was a good way to end the fall season."

A-1 Singles
1st Rd. - Zach Nicholson (Navy) def. Jared Karson (Cornell), 6-4, 6-2
2nd Rd. - Jeremy Feldman (Cornell) def. Zach Nicholson (Navy), 7-5, 6-3
5th Pl. Bracket - Dominic Hemy (Fairleigh Dickinson) def. Zach Nicholson (Navy), 6-2, 6-3
7th Pl. Match - Alex Holland (Army) def. Zach Nicholson (Navy), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4)
A-2 Singles
1st Rd. - Andy Gauthier (Cornell) def. Nick Birger (Navy), 6-4, 6-0
Con. 1st Rd. - Nick Birger (Navy) def. Travis Zappia (Buffalo), 6-2, 7-5
Con. 2nd Rd. - Steve Herchko (Duquesne) def. Nick Birger (Navy), 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
1st Rd. - Mirza Klis (Cornell) def. Chris Kenney (Navy), 6-4, 6-4
Con. 1st Rd. - Yuri Gricheno (Fairleigh Dickinson) def. Chris Kenney (Navy), 6-4, 6-1
B Singles
1st Rd. - Heyward Drayton (Navy) - Bye
2nd Rd. - Heyward Drayton (Navy) def. Jason Shkodnik (Buffalo), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
SF - Charles Quay (Cornell) def. Heyward Drayton (Navy), 7-5, 6-4
3rd Pl. Match - Heyward Drayton (Navy) def. Allen Xu (Army), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 1-0 (10-8)
A Doubles
1st Rd. - Alex Holland / Donald Van Velzer (Army) def. Nick Birger / Zach Nicholson (Navy), 9-8 (7-5)
Con. 1st Rd. - Nick Birger / Zach Nicholson (Navy) - Bye
Con. 2nd Rd. - Nick Birger / Zach Nicholson (Navy) def. Yuri Gricheno / Dominic Hemy (Fairleigh Dickinson), 8-6
Con. F - Steve Herchko / Max Rubin (Duquesne) def. Nick Birger / Zach Nicholson (Navy), 8-6
B Doubles
1st Rd. - Heyward Drayton / Chris Kenney (Navy) - Bye
2nd Rd. - Heyward Drayton / Chris Kenney (Navy) def. Kristof Custers / Jason Shkodnik (Buffalo), 8-5
SF - Heyward Drayton / Chris Kenney (Navy) def. Jared Karson / Peter Nawara (Cornell), 8-3
F - Spencer Clark / Brett Cromwell (Cornell) def. Heyward Drayton / Chris Kenney (Navy), 8-6