Sept. 10, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's tennis team totaled eight victories over Niagara on the opening day of the Navy Invitational Friday afternoon in Annapolis. The Mids won two of the three doubles matches that were contested on the day, as well as six of the seven singles matches that were played between the teams.

"I thought we competed hard today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We really busted our tails after during point. I do think we played a little tight at times. We were thinking too much about the end result and not the process needed to reach the end result. That is something we will have to work on tomorrow."

Picking up the first win of the year for Navy was the No. 1 doubles team of Owen Bullard (Sr., Concord, N.C.) and Nicholas Gutsche (So., Sarasota, Fla.). The duo posted an 8-2 win over the Niagara pair of Brandon Gallegos and Mathieu Lacasse. They were soon followed in the win column by Navy's No. 3 tandem of Jeremy New (Sr., Glen Allen, Va.) and Marcus Rebersak (Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa.), who won an 8-4 decision over Matthew Kane and Jordan Tedesco-Blair.

Navy's lone singles loss of the day was a marathon match at the No. 1 flight between Bullard and Kane. Kane won the first set by the score of 6-4, but a 6-3 win by Bullard in the second set forced the duo to play a 10-point, third-set tiebreaker (used in place of a complete full set). Kane was able to outlast Bullard by the score of 17-15.

Another lengthy affair took place at No. 2 singles where Rebersak eventually won a 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (14-12) contest over Gallegos. Yet another third-set tiebreaker took place at No. 5 singles as Gutsche outlasted Lacasse by the score of 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5).

Navy's remaining wins by New at No. 3, Zach Nicholson (Jr., Bowie, Md.) at No. 4, Matt Richmond (So., Kalamazoo, Mich.) at No. 6 and Eddie Konrad (Jr., The Woodlands, Texas) at No. 7 all came in straight sets.

The Navy Invitational continues Saturday with Navy facing St. Bonaventure at 9 a.m. and Niagara taking on Temple at 2 p.m.

Due to Saturday's Navy football game, all fans wishing to attend the tennis matches who are without access to the Naval Academy grounds will need to park in downtown Annapolis and walk through gate one.

Navy vs. Niagara
Doubles
1 - Owen Bullard / Nicholas Gutsche (Navy) def. Brandon Gallegos / Mathieu Lacasse (Nia), 8-2
2 - David Lemieux-Sarrasin / Joseph Zelic (Nia) def. Nick Birger / Mike Eisenberg (Navy), 8-6
3 - Jeremy New / Marcus Rebersak (Navy) def. Matthew Kane / Jordan Tedesco-Blair (Nia), 8-4
4 - Eddie Konrad / Zach Nicholson (Navy) vs. John Baird (Nia) / Chris Kenney (Navy) - DNP

Singles
1 - Matthew Kane (Nia) def. Owen Bullard (Navy), 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (17-15)
2 - Marcus Rebersak (Navy) def. Brandon Gallegos (Nia), 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (14-12)
3 - Jeremy New (Navy) def. Joseph Zelic (Nia), 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
4 - Zach Nicholson (Navy) def. David Lemieux-Sarrasin (Nia), 6-1, 6-4
5 - Nicholas Gutsche (Navy) def. Mathieu Lacasse (Nia), 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (7-5)
6 - Matt Richmond (Navy) def. Jordan Tedesco-Blair (Nia), 6-0, 6-2
7 - Eddie Konrad (Navy) def. John Baird (Nia), 6-0, 6-1
8 - Mike Eisenberg (Navy) vs. Heyward Drayton (Navy) - DNP

St. Bonaventure vs. Temple
Doubles
1 - Filip Rams / Dmitry Vizhunov (T) def. Enric Larregola / Mikhail Sudakov (SBU), 8-4
2 - Elliott Fanshel / Chris Post (SBU) def. Taylor Hairston / Kacper Rams (T), 8-3
3 - Mansur Gishkaev / Andrey Morozov (T) def. Luis Guevara / Oscar Yanez (SBU), 9-8 (7-5)
4 - Kurt Mauro / Luv Sodha (T) - DNP

Singles
1 - Filip Rams (T) def. Chris Post (SBU), 6-4, 6-4
2 - Mansur Gishkaev (T) def. Enric Larregola (SBU), 6-2, 1-6, 1-0 (10-7)
3 - Mikhail Sudakov (SBU) def. Andrey Morozov (T), 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-3)
4 - Dmitry Vizhunov (T) def. Oscar Yanez (SBU), 6-0, 6-2
5 - Taylor Hairston (T) def. Luis Guevara (SBU), 6-4, 6-3
6 - Elliott Fanshel (SBU) def. Luv Sodha (T), 6-0, 6-4
7 - Billy Cove (SBU) def. Kurt Mauro (T), 6-4, 6-2
8 - Kacper Rams (T) - DNP