April 2, 2011

Final Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Navy men's tennis team lost just one match on the day in posting a 6-1 victory over Lafayette Saturday afternoon at the Lewis Tennis Center in Bethlehem, Pa. The win was Navy's third in as many Patriot League matches and improved its overall record on the year to 15-8. Meanwhile, the loss by the Leopards dropped their league record to 1-3 this season and their overall mark to 4-8.

"We played well today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "We started off by playing very well in the doubles and then we were able to carry that over into the singles matches. The guys looked sharp in singles. We let the one match get away from us, so the final score could have been 7-0."

Navy began the day with its No. 2 doubles team of Mike Eisenberg (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) and Nicholas Gutsche (So., Sarasota, Fla.) combining for an 8-1 victory over Doug Gallagher and Will Mercorella. The Mids then earned the doubles point when Heyward Drayton (Fr., Valley Forge, Pa.) and Jeremy New (Sr., Glen Allen, Va.) tallied an 8-4 win at No. 3 doubles over Scott Gelbman and Andrew Morris.

In the remaining doubles match, Navy's Nick Birger (Sr., Belleville, Ill.) and Owen Bullard (Sr., Concord, N.C.) recorded an 8-5 win against the duo of Justin Haar and Kyle MacLelland at the No. 1 flight.

Bullard quickly placed Navy's second team point of the day on the board when he won a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Haar at No. 1 singles. Gutsche promptly defeated Mercorella by the same score at No. 4 singles to give the Mids a 3-0 lead. Posting the fourth and match-clinching team point for Navy was New with his 7-5, 6-3 victory over Gallagher at No. 2 singles.

Next to finish was the No. 3 match where Drayton tallied a 7-5, 6-3 win over Gelbman, and that was followed by Matt Richmond (So., Kalamazoo, Mich.) winning a 6-0, 6-4 decision over Morris at No. 5 singles. The last match of the day saw MacLelland post a 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 1-0 (12-10) victory over Birger at No. 6 singles. Birger had four match points in the tiebreaker but was unable to convert any of them.

Navy will return to the Lewis Tennis Center Sunday morning to face Lehigh.

"We have a very tough match ahead of ourselves tomorrow," said Officer. "Lehigh has had some very good results this season."

First serve for the match is 10 a.m.

Navy (15-8, 3-0) def. Lafayette (4-8, 1-3), 6-1
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (2-3-1)
1 - Nick Birger / Owen Bullard (Navy) def. Justin Haar / Kyle MacLelland, 8-5
2 - Mike Eisenberg / Nicholas Gutsche (Navy) def. Doug Gallagher / Will Mercorella, 8-1
3 - Heyward Drayton / Jeremy New (Navy) def. Scott Gelbman / Andrew Morris, 8-4
Singles (1-4-2-3-5-6)
1 - Owen Bullard (Navy) def. Justin Haar, 6-2, 6-2
2 - Jeremy New (Navy) def. Doug Gallagher, 7-5, 6-3
3 - Heyward Drayton (Navy) def. Scott Gelbman, 7-5, 6-3
4 - Nicholas Gutsche (Navy) def. Will Mercorella, 6-2, 6-2
5 - Matt Richmond (Navy) def. Andrew Morris, 6-0, 6-4
6 - Kyle MacLelland (Laf) def. Nick Birger (Navy), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 1-0 (12-10)