April 23, 2010

Final Stats

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Navy men's team posted a 4-0 victory over Holy Cross Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament. The three-day championship is being held at the Ulrich Varsity Courts on the Bucknell campus in Lewisburg, Pa.

The victory moves the second-seeded Mids into Saturday's semifinal round where they will face the tournament-host and third-seeded Bison. Bucknell advanced to the semifinal match by virtue of its 4-2 win over No. 6 Lafayette. Weather permitting, the Navy-Bucknell match will start at 2 p.m. The first semifinal of the day (10 a.m.) will feature top-seeded Army facing No. 5 Lehigh. The Black Knights had a first-round bye Friday while the Mountain Hawks tallied a 4-0 win over No. 4 Colgate.

"We played very well today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We had strong performances in both singles and doubles."

Navy (14-13) quickly picked up wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles by the identical score of 8-1 to claim the doubles point from the seventh-seeded Crusaders (5-14). Owen Bullard (Jr., Concord, N.C.) and Nicholas Gutsche (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) defeated Chris Das and Dan Phelan at No. 1 doubles, while the tandem of Nick Birger (Jr., Belleville, Ill.) and Ramsey Lemaich (Sr., Danville, Calif.) recorded a win over Scott Brownel and A.J. Shekar at No. 2 doubles.

The Mids continued their strong play in the singles portion of the match. Marcus Rebersak (So., Pittsburgh, Pa.) won a 6-0, 6-0 contest over Phelan at No. 2 singles, Bullard posted a 6-2, 6-1 victory over John Burke at No. 1 singles and Jeremy New (Jr., Glen Allen, Va.) tallied a 6-0, 6-0 win over Das at No. 3 singles to record Navy's match-clinching fourth point of the day.

"We're starting to look like a team ready to compete for a championship," said Officer. "That's our goal for the weekend."

Navy posted a hard-fought 5-2 win over Bucknell earlier this season in Lewisburg. The Bison won the doubles point from the Mids before Navy picked up five straight-set singles victories.

Navy 4, Holy Cross 0
Doubles - Navy wins the doubles point (match finish order: 1-3)
1. Owen Bullard / Nicholas Gutsche (N) def. Dan Phelan / Chris Das, 8-1
2. Ramsey Lemaich / Nick Birger (N) def. Scott Brownel / AJ Shekar, 8-1
3. Jeremy New / Eddie Konrad (N) led Tim Regan / John Burke, 6-1 DNF
Singles (match finish order: 2-1-3)
1. Owen Bullard (N) def. John Burke, 6-2, 6-1
2. Marcus Rebersak (N) def. Dan Phelan, 6-0, 6-0
3. Jeremy New (N) def. Chris Das, 6-1, 6-0
4. Zach Nicholson (N) led Tim Regan, 6-4, 4-1 DNF
5. Nicholas Gutsche (N) led Scott Brownel, 6-0, 3-0 DNF
6. Matt Richmond (N) led AJ Shekar, 6-1, 1-0 DNF