April 11, 2010

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Army rallied after losing the doubles point to win a trio of three-set singles matches and another in straight sets to post a 4-3 victory over the Navy men's tennis team, Sunday afternoon at the Naval Academy Tennis Courts. The result ends a seven-match winning streak in the series for the Midshipmen.

"You have to hand it to Army," said Navy head coach John Officer. "When the matches were on the line they outplayed us. We didn't execute the way we needed to. We had lots of chances but we did not take advantage of those opportunities."

Navy picked up the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. The first of the trio of contests to finish was the No. 3 match where Navy's Eddie Konrad (So., The Woodlands, Texas) and Jeremy New (Jr., Glen Allen, Va.) combined to post an 8-4 win over Alex Holland and Tripp Johnson. Not long after that match finished, Owen Bullard (Jr., Concord, N.C.) and Nicholas Gutsche (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) walked off the court after completing an 8-5 win over Gary Kushnirovich and Rashad Shelton to secure the doubles point for the Mids.

In the remaining doubles match, Army's Chris Albornoz and Johnny Lucero posted an 8-6 win over Nick Birger (Jr., Belleville, Ill.) and Ramsey Lemaich (Sr., Danville, Calif.) at No. 2 doubles.

Five of the six singles matches would be extended into three sets, with the player winning the first set going on to win just two of the six matches.

The first match to be completed saw Lucero win a 7-5, 6-1 decision over New at No. 3 singles to tie the match at one win apiece. Navy regained the lead when Bullard posted a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Kushnirovich -- the No. 9 singles player in the Northeast Region -- at No. 1 singles. But the Black Knights would win the ensuing three matches to be completed to secure the victory.

Next off was the match at No. 4 where Johnson tallied a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win over Zach Nicholson (So., Bowie, Md.), then Albornoz recorded Army's third team point of the match when he won a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 match over Marcus Rebersak (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) at No. 2 singles. The Black Knights clinched the team victory when Bruno Lucivero tallied a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Matt Richmond (Fr., Kalamazoo, Mich.) at No. 6 singles.

The final match of the day saw Gutsche win a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) decision over Shelton at No. 5 singles.

"After having lost to us in the last seven meetings, Army came in a very determined team," said Officer. "That determination didn't stop when they lost the doubles point. We need to anticipate and prepare for a tremendous team effort from Army should we face them again at the conference championship in two weeks."

The two service academies have faced each other in the championship match of the Patriot League Tournament in each of the last three years, with Navy winning each of those matches. Navy was the top-seeded team and Army the No. 2 squad in 2007, `08 and `09, but with the result of today's match those seeding positions will in all likelihood be reversed. This means that the Mids will have to win three matches in three days to win the league crown, while Army will need to win just two matches as the Black Knights will receive a quarterfinal round bye.

Army (11-7 / 5-1) def. Navy (13-11 / 4-1), 4-3
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (finish order: 3-1-2)
1 - Bullard / Gutsche (N) def. Kushnirovich / Shelton, 8-5
2 - Albornoz / Lucero (A) def. Nick Birger / Ramsey Lemaich, 8-6
3 - Eddie Konrad / New (N) def. Alex Holland / Johnson, 8-4
Singles (finish order: 3-1-4-2-6-5)
1 - Owen Bullard (N) def. Gary Kushnirovich, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
2 - Chris Albornoz (A)def. Marcus Rebersak, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
3 - Johnny Lucero (A) def. Jeremy New, 7-5, 6-1
4 - Tripp Johnson (A) def. Zach Nicholson, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
5 - Nicholas Gutsche (N) def. Rashad Shelton, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2)
6 - Bruno Lucivero (A) def. Matt Richmond, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4