Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. ---- The Navy men's tennis team did not drop a match in posting 7-0 victories over both Villanova and Delaware Sunday at the Tose Family Tennis Center in Annapolis. Seven of the 18 matches contested on the day featured at least one set tiebreaker, with two tiebreakers being played in three of those matches.

"Even though the scores look decisive," said Navy head coach Chris Garner, "a lot of the sets and matches were close. We were able to hang in there and get some impressive wins."

The Mids began their day by sweeping each of the matches against Villanova (1-1). The final score doesn't indicate how close the Wildcats came to winning three points on the day. Navy won all three doubles matches, but two of them were decided in tiebreakers. The Navy duo of Austin Jones (Sr., Dallas, Texas) and Tucker Massie (So., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) first won a 6-3 decision over Bradley Noyes and Chris Seitz at No. 1 doubles. The next match to finish was the No. 2 contest between Navy's Andrey Majkic (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) and Aries Wong (So., Bethesda, Md.) and the Villanova tandem of Thomas Dodson and Jimmy Purdy. The Mids held off the Wildcats by the count of 7-6 in the set, with the tiebreaker score being 7-5. That match gave Navy the 1-0 lead regardless of what transpired in the contest at the No. 3 flight. There, Navy's Parker Hayslett (Fr., Clearwater, Fla.) and Joshua Martin (So., Foley, Ala.) combined for a 7-6 (7-3) victory over William Elmore and Luis Miranda.

The Mids proceeded to win straight set decisions in each of the first four singles matches to be completed to build an insurmountable 5-0 advantage. Krishna Jana (Jr., Seebrook, Texas) first gave Navy a 2-0 lead with his 6-2, 6-0 win over Noyes at No. 2 singles. Majkic next recorded a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Purdy at No. 4 singles, then Wong clinched the match for the Mids with his 6-3, 6-2 victory at the No. 3 flight over Miranda.

Rounding out the straight-set wins for the Mids was Walker Sims (So., Memphis, Tenn.), who posted a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Alastair Hurry at No. 5 singles.

Andrew Hicks (Fr., Haddon Heights, N.J.) gave Navy its sixth point of the match with his narrow victory over Matt Phelps at No. 6 singles. Hicks won the first set by the score of 6-4, but Phelps won the second set in a tiebreaker by the count of 7-5. With the overall team competition already determined, the duo played a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a complete third set. Hicks would win the abbreviated frame by the score of 10-4.

Jones won the first set of his No. 1 singles match against Noyes by the score of 6-2, but like Hicks dropped the second set in a tiebreaker. Noyes edged Jones by the score of 8-6 to win the second set and force a third set. Jones would jump out to a 4-0 lead in the 10-point breaker on his way to winning by the score of 10-5.

After a short break, Navy (4-5) carried over its strong play on the day with its victory over Delaware (0-4).

The Mids earned the doubles point from the Blue Hens with wins at each of the three flights. The duo of Tyler Tossavainen (Jr., Fleming Island, Fla.) and Wong first posted a 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles over Blaise Casselbury and Alex Swett. The doubles point would be awarded to Navy when its No. 1 tandem of Jones and Massie recorded a 6-3 win over Tyler Flematti and Mike Furr. A 7-5 victory at the No. 3 flight by the team of Hicks and Cameron Kirkpatrick (Fr., Menlo Park, Calif.) over Roy Cheng and Colin Wong completed doubles play.

Sims lost just one game in defeating Casselbury at No. 4 singles to give Navy its second team point. Jones then won a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Furr at No. 1 singles to make the advantage 3-0. Joshua Martin (So., Foley, Ala.) secured the overall victory for Navy with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles over Tim Puterio.

Jana was extended into a third set at No. 2 singles by Flematti before tallying a 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-5) victory at the flight. Massie edged Wong in a first-set tiebreaker, 7-4, before he won the second set by the score of 6-2. The final match of the day saw Majkic record a 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8) victory over Venkatesh Ramkumar at No. 3 singles.

A total of 11 Mids had a hand in at least one victory Sunday.

"It was great to get Walker back out there," said Garner. "He's been nursing an injury since being back from (Christmas) break. We're looking forward to getting him in the lineup and creating more depth.

"The guys are doing a real good job of trying to help one another through practice and practice matches (to help build the depth). They are trying to bring out the best in one another. As long as they are doing that, everyone is going to get better. If they bring the work ethic to tennis that they bring to the classroom and on the military side, they are going to bring out the best in each other and move us in the right direction."

There were four 10-point, third-set tiebreakers played on the day by Navy. The Mids lost the second set in each of those four matches, but bounced back to win all four super-breakers.

"Walker was able to stay aggressive in his super-breaker," said Garner, "and I think that was able to carry him through. The guy he was playing was putting a lot of balls back into play and coming up with some aggressive shots of his own, but Walker was able to dictate play throughout that super-breaker and that enabled him to get the victory there. Same with Andrey; he was controlling the tempo with his serve and volley game. Josh had a close first set. Those guys were going back and forth. Josh had a little more variety in his groundstroke game. That definitely helped him secure the tiebreaker.

"Anything these guys care about in tennis means they have to have a short term memory (in referencing losing the second set but winning four super-breakers). You are going to make a number of mistakes, miss some shots and some things are going to against you. You need to be able to put that behind you quickly and move on to the next task at hand."

Navy will continue its homestand Saturday when the Mids play host to the University of the Sciences at 10 a.m. and Mount St. Mary's at 2 p.m.

Navy (3-5) def. Villanova (1-1), 7-0
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (1-2-3)
1. Jones, Austin / Massie, Tucker (NAVY) def. Noyes, Bradley / Seitz, Chris (VILL), 6-3
2. Majkic, Andrey / Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Dodson, Thomas / Purdy, Jimmy (VILL), 7-6 (7-5)
3. Hayslett, Parker / Martin, Joshua (NAVY) def. Elmore, William / Miranda, Luis (VILL), 7-6 (7-3)
Singles (2-4-3-5-1-6)
1. Jones, Austin (NAVY) def. Seitz, Chris (VILL), 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 1-0 (10-5)
2. Jana, Krishna (NAVY) def. Noyes, Bradley (VILL), 6-2, 6-0
3. Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Miranda, Luis (VILL), 6-3, 6-2
4. Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) def. Purdy, Jimmy (VILL), 6-2, 6-4
5. Sims, Walker (NAVY) def. Hurry, Alastair (VILL), 6-4, 6-1
6. Hicks, Andrew (NAVY) def. Phelps, Matt (VILL), 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-4)

Navy (4-5) def. Delaware (0-4), 7-0
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (2-1-3)
1. Jones, Austin / Massie, Tucker (NAVY) def. Flematti, Tyler / Furr, Mike (DELAWARE), 6-3
2. Tossavainen, Tyler / Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Casselbury, Blaise / Sweet, Alex (DELAWARE), 6-0
3. Hicks, Andrew / Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) def. Cheng, Roy / Wong, Colin (DELAWARE), 7-5
Singles (4-1-6-2-5-3)
1. Jones, Austin (NAVY) def. Furr, Mike (DELAWARE), 6-1, 6-4
2. Jana, Krishna (NAVY) def. Flematti, Tyler (DELAWARE), 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-5)
3. Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) def. Ramkumar, Venkatesh (DELAWARE), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
4. Sims, Walker (NAVY) def. Casselbury, Blaise (DELAWARE), 6-1, 6-0
5. Massie, Tucker (NAVY) def. Wong, Colin (DELAWARE), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
6. Martin, Joshua (NAVY) def. Puterio, Tim (DELAWARE), 6-3, 6-2