March 26, 2011

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's tennis team opened its Patriot League season Saturday with a hard-fought 5-2 victory over Colgate at the Tose Family Tennis Center. The Mids have now compiled a 13-8 record on the season, while the Raiders fell to 4-9 overall and 0-2 in league play this year with the loss.

"This was a good win for us," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We have faced a lot of adversity this season and again today with being down three starters. But the guys pulled together and had great team chemistry today. We really had the opportunity to win all of the matches."

The Mids began the day by sweeping the three doubles matches to win the doubles point. The team of Mike Eisenberg (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Nicholas Gutsche (So., Sarasota, Fla.) won an 8-4 decision over Luke Gensburg and Sean Spellberg at No. 2 doubles, then Nick Birger (Sr., Belleville, Ill.) and Owen Bullard (Sr., Concord, N.C.) combined for an 8-3 win over Phil Bernasek and Ruslan Goussiatnikov at No. 1 doubles to secure the point. The last match to finish saw Heyward Drayton (Fr., Valley Forge, Pa.) and Jeremy New (Sr., Glen Allen, Va.) record an 8-7 (7-4) victory over Alec Goldstein and Parker Lewis at No. 3 doubles.

Navy increased its lead to 2-0 when Matt Richmond (So., Kalamazoo, Mich.) won a 6-2, 6-2 match over Bernasek at No. 5 singles. The advantage soon became 3-0 after Bullard posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over Gensburg at No. 1 singles. The Mids clinched the match with their fourth team point when Birger posted a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Spellberg at No. 6 singles.

Goussiatnikov would hold off Drayton, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, at No. 4 singles to tally the first point of the day for the Raiders. New picked up Navy's fifth point of the match as he outlasted Bobby Berkowitz, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8), at No. 2 singles. The final match to be completed saw Goldstein win a 6-4, 6-4 match over Gutsche at No. 3 singles.

"Mike really stepped up for us in doubles," said Officer. "Owen played well in both singles and doubles, Jeremy really wore down his singles opponent and even though Nick Birger has played limited singles matches this spring he stepped in and clinched the match for us with his victory. The guys who have not seen much court time this season in matches but have worked hard in practice really did a good job today."

Navy will be back on the Tose Family Tennis Center courts Sunday when the Mids play host to Bucknell at 2:30 p.m.

Navy (13-8, 1-0) def. Colgate (4-9, 0-2), 5-2
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (2-1-3)
1 - Nick Birger / Owen Bullard (Navy) def. Phil Bernasek / Ruslan Goussiatnikov, 8-3
2 - Mike Eisenberg / Nicholas Gutsche (Navy) def. Luke Gensburg / Sean Spellberg, 8-4
3 - Heyward Drayton / Jeremy New (Navy) def. Alec Goldstein / Parker Lewis, 8-7 (7-4)
Singles (5-1-6-4-2-3)
1 - Owen Bullard (Navy) def. Luke Gensburg, 6-3, 7-5
2 - Jeremy New (Navy) def. Bobby Berkowitz, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
3 - Alec Goldstein (Colgate) def. Nicholas Gutsche, 6-4, 6-4
4 - Ruslan Goussiatnikov (Colgate) def. Heyward Drayton, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
5 - Matt Richmond (Navy) def. Phil Bernasek, 6-2, 6-3
6 - Nick Birger (Navy) def. Sean Spellberg, 7-5, 6-2