April 14, 2010
Final Stats
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Despite winning the doubles point on the day, the Navy men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to Georgetown Wednesday afternoon at the McDonough Outdoor Tennis Complex in Washington, D.C.
The Hoyas, who are ranked 10th in the ITA's Atlantic Region, improved to 10-11 on the year with the win, while Navy lost its second consecutive match to fall to 13-12 on the season.
"We lost to a good Georgetown team," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We were somewhat depleted in our lineup, but we still had our chances to win the match."
One of Navy's strengths this season has been its doubles play, and that was evident again Wednesday as the Mids picked up wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles to win the doubles point from the Hoyas. Georgetown picked up the first win of the day as its No. 3 doubles tandem of Charlie Caris and Anthony Tan won an 8-3 decision over Eddie Konrad (So., The Woodlands, Texas) and Jeremy New (Jr., Glen Allen, Va.). The Mids were able to even the results at one win apiece when Nick Birger (Jr., Belleville, Ill.) and Ramsey Lemaich (Sr., Danville, Calif.) posted an 8-6 win over Will Lowell and David Tillem at No. 2 doubles.
In the remaining match at No. 1 doubles, Navy's team of Owen Bullard (Jr., Concord, N.C.) and Nicholas Gutsche (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) held a seemingly comfortable 7-4 lead over Andrew Bruhn and Tim Walsh. However, the Hoyas were able to tie the match at 7-7 and eventually the two teams found themselves in a tiebreaker. The Mids would go on to win the breaker by the score of 7-3 to give Navy the doubles point for the seventh consecutive match and the 15th time in 23 matches this year.
Navy was unable to carry that success over into the singles portion of the match, though, as the Mids managed to come away with just one more win on the afternoon. Tallying that lone point for the Mids was Gutsche, who recorded a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Lowell at No. 4 singles. It was his 13th consecutive win in singles and improved his record in singles play this spring to 18-4.
"Gutsche was our player of the day," said Officer. "He teamed up with Owen for a good win at number one doubles, and he just keeps rolling along in singles. He plays with a lot of inspiration and never gets rattled out there."
The Mids did have several other chances to pick up one, if not two more points that would have changed the outcome of the dual. Bullard lost a 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 contest to Tan at No. 1 singles, while Marcus Rebersak (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) lost a 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 2-1 (10-8) match to Tillem at No. 2 singles.
Not helping the Navy effort was the absence of Zach Nicholson (So., Bowie, Md.), who normally plays No. 4 singles for the Mids but was unable to make the trip to our nation's capital today due to academic commitments. That forced Gutsche to move up one spot in the lineup to No. 4 singles, normal No. 6 player Matt Richmond (Fr., Kalamazoo, Mich.) played No. 5 singles and Birger stepped into the singles lineup at No. 6 for just the second time this spring.
"The key for us next week in the Patriot League Tournament is to play inspired and not get frustrated during the course of the match. We did that okay today, but were not consistent with it. We also let some situations get to us today and we can't have that next week. We just have to be able to deal with things and move on to the next point right away."
Navy will close its regular season Saturday when the Mids play host to No. 36 Notre Dame. That match will be played either inside of the Tose Family Tennis Center or outdoors on the courts located adjacent to the facility.
Georgetown (10-11) def. Navy (13-12), 5-2
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (match finish order: 3-2-1)
1. Bullard / Gutsche (N) def. Bruhn / Walsh, 9-8 (7-3)
2. Birger/ Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Lowell / Tillem, 8-6
3. Caris / Tan (G) def. Eddie Konrad / New, 8-3
Singles (match finish order: 6-3-5-4-1-2)
1. Anthony Tan (G) def. Owen Bullard, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3
2. David Tillem (G) def. Marcus Rebersak, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 2-1 (10-8)
3. Charlie Caris (G) def. Jeremy New, 7-5, 6-3
4. Nicholas Gutsche (N) def. Will Lowell, 6-2, 7-5
5. Andrew Bruhn (G) def. Matt Richmond, 6-2, 6-4
6. Tim Walsh (G) def. Nick Birger, 6-1, 6-2
