Feb. 21, 2010

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's tennis team concluded a busy two days by posting a 7-0 victory over Delaware State Saturday night at the Tose Family Tennis Center. Earlier, the Mids had lost a 4-3 decision to Penn Friday before losing a 5-2 match to Yale Saturday afternoon.

"This was a good match for us," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We were able to have a lot of players gain experience tonight and they all were able to come away with wins. This team has made a lot of strides since our first weekend of the year. We have faced a tough schedule, but that is the best thing we could have done for this team. The guys gave great effort thoughout the weekend and competed like champions. Even though we lost a lot from last year, I feel we are retooling and and not rebuilding this year."

Navy (3-5) swept the two doubles matches that were played Saturday against Delaware State (0-1). Nick Birger (Jr., Belleville, Ill.) and Nicholas Gutsche (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) posted an 8-4 win over Brian Gelis and Milos Velickovic at No. 1 doubles, while Mike Eisenberg (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Jarrad Smoke (Sr., Belmar, N.J.) won an 8-4 decision at No. 2 doubles against the tandem of Christopher Kano and Roman Pitutelev.

The Mids then swept each of the five singles matches contested on the night. Owen Bullard (Jr., Concord, N.C.) had the most challenging match of the dual, but he eventually prevailed in a 7-5, 6-2 match against Kano. The other matches saw straight set wins recorded by Nicholas Gutsche (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) at No. 2, Matt Richmond (Fr., Kalamazoo, Mich.) at No. 3, Birger at No. 4 and Christian Mineur (Jr., Hudson, Ohio) at No. 5.

Navy will take to the road for a pair of matches at North Carolina (Thursday) and at Clemson (Saturday) before returning home Feb. 28 to play host to Drexel.

Navy (3-5) def. Delaware State (0-1), 7-0
Doubles -- 3-1-2 -- Navy wins the doubles point
1. Ramsey Lemaich / Nick Birger (N) def. Brian Gelis / Milos Velickovic, 8-4
2. Mike Eisenberg / Jarrad Smoke (N) def. Christopher Kano / Roman Pitutelev, 8-4
3. Nicholas Gutsche / Christian Mineur win by default

Singles - 6-5-3-4-1-2
1. Owen Bullard (N) def. Christopher Kano, 7-5, 6-2
2. Nicholas Gutsche (N) def. Brian Gelis, 6-4, 6-2
3. Matt Richmond (N) def. Milos Velickovoc, 6-1, 6-2
4. Nick Birger (N) def. Roman Pitutelev, 6-3, 6-4
5. Christian Mineur (N) def. Phillip Scott, 6-0, 6-0
6. Mike Eisenberg (N) won by default