Final Stats

FRESNO, Calif. - After winning the doubles point, Arizona had to overcome strong singles play by the Navy men's tennis team to hang on for a 5-2 victory over the Mids Wednesday at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center in Fresno, Calif.

"I was really proud of the guys in how they represented themselves and the Naval Academy," said Navy head coach Chris Garner. "They competed hard and supported each other very well. It was a tough match. Arizona was too good for us today, but I was really excited and proud to be part of it and their coach here at Navy."

The Wildcats (7-9) controlled doubles play as they lost a combined two games in winning the two matches to be completed, which gave them an early 1-0 lead over the Mids (13-6), but each the six singles matches would be hard-fought contests.

Arizona stretched its advantage to 2-0 when Trevor James won a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Tucker Massie (Fr., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) at No. 6 singles, then built a 3-0 lead after Shoki Kasahara defeated Krishna Jana (So., Seabrook, Texas), 6-4, 6-4, at No. 5 singles.

Navy placed its first point of the day on the scoreboard when Walker Sims (Fr., Memphis, Tenn.) posted a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jason Jaruvang at No. 3 singles. The Wildcats secured the overall victory with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles by Naoki Takeda, the 45th-ranked singles player in the country, over Calvin Mark (Sr., Union City, Calif.).

The score soon became 4-2 when Navy's Aries Wong (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) recorded a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Will Kneale at No. 4 singles. The last match of the day saw Arizona's Sumeet Shinde, who is ranked 118th in singles nationally, outlast Thomas Pecor (So., Houston, Texas), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 2 singles.

"We started to pull the momentum back to even with our singles play," said Garner. "We did a great job of giving ourselves the opportunity to be in the match. It was all the doing of our guys; even those not playing singles were helping out where they could and making sure they believed in one another."

Navy now travels to Moraga, Calif., for a Thursday match at Saint Mary's.

Arizona (7-9) def. Navy (13-6), 5-2
Doubles - Arizona wins the doubles point (3-1)
1. Shinde, Sumeet / Takeda, Naoki (ARIZ) def. Mark, Calvin / Pecor, Thomas, 6-2
2. Kasahara, Shoki / Mushayev, David (ARIZ) vs. Massie, Tucker / Wong, Aries, 5-2, unfinished
3. Dunn, Matt / Jaruvang, Jason (ARIZ) def. Daniel, Blake / Tossavainen, Tyler, 6-0
Singles (6-5-3-1-4-2)
1. Takeda, Naoki (ARIZ) def. Mark, Calvin, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1
2. Shinde, Sumeet (ARIZ) def. Pecor, Thomas, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
3. Sims, Walker (NAVY) def. Jaruvang, Jason, 6-3, 6-4
4. Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Kneale, Will, 6-3, 6-3
5. Kasahara, Shoki (ARIZ) def. Jana, Krishna, 6-4, 6-4
6. James, Trevor (ARIZ) def. Massie, Tucker, 6-4, 6-2