Final Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. â€"â€" Strong singles play carried the Navy men's tennis team to a 4-0 victory over Lafayette Friday morning in a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal round match contested at the Lewis Tennis Center in Bethlehem, Pa. The top-seeded Mids now advance to a semifinal round match Saturday against either No. 4 Colgate or No. 5 Lehigh.

The doubles point between Navy (21-8) and No. 8 seed Lafayette (4-17) was not awarded until the third and final match came to a conclusion. The Mids won the first match to finish as Austin Jones (Sr., Dallas, Texas) and Tucker Massie (So., Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) recorded a 6-1 victory over Chris Matturri and Brian Stefanowicz at No. 1 doubles. The Leopards evened the proceedings at one match apiece when Mason Keel and Chris Kim won their match at the No. 3 flight over Andrey Majkic (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) and Thomas Pecor (Jr., Houston, Texas) by the score of 6-3.

Navy would claim the doubles point thanks to a 6-2 victory by Walker Sims (So., Memphis, Tenn.) and Aries Wong (So., Bethesda, Md.) over Andrew Reed and Gavin Studner at No. 2 doubles.

"Lafayette played some really inspiring doubles matches," said Navy head coach Chris Garner, "but our guys were able to hang tough in order to secure the doubles point."

Only four courts are available for use in the Lewis Tennis Center, so after the conclusion of the doubles matches the Nos. 1-4 singles flights took to the courts first. The Mids would drop a combined four games in quickly winning the first three matches to finish to advance out of the quarterfinal round. Jones did not surrender a game in defeating Stefanowicz at No. 1 singles, Krishna Jana (Jr., Seabrook, Texas) tallied a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Reed at the No. 4 flight and Sims closed the morning with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Studner at No. 3 singles.

In the remaining match of the first four to begin play, Pecor held a 6-0, 4-1 advantage over Matturri at No. 2 singles when it was halted due to the Mids clinching the overall victory.

"Austin and Krishna got off to quick starts to enable the team to take a 3-0 lead," said Garner. Walker and Thomas both were playing well against the some great competitors."

The Colgate vs. Lehigh match began at noon Friday, with the winner facing the Mids Saturday at 10 a.m. Navy did not play Colgate this season and won a 4-3 decision over Lehigh in a match played in Annapolis.

No. 1 Navy (21-8) def. No. 8 Lafayette (4-17), 4-0
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (1-3-2)
1. Jones, Austin / Massie, Tucker (NAVY) def. Matturri, Chris / Stefanowicz, Brian (LAF) 6-1
2. Sims, Walker / Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Reed, Andrew / Studner, Gavin (LAF) 6-2
3. Keel, Mason / Kim, Chris (LAF) def. Majkic, Andrey / Pecor, Thomas (NAVY) 6-3
Singles (1-4-3)
1. Jones, Austin (NAVY) def. Stefanowicz, Brian (LAF) 6-0, 6-0
2. Pecor, Thomas (NAVY) vs. Matturri, Chris (LAF) 6-0, 4-1, unfinished
3. Sims, Walker (NAVY) def. Studner, Gavin (LAF) 6-2, 6-0
4. Jana, Krishna (NAVY) def. Reed, Andrew (LAF) 6-1, 6-1
5. Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) vs. Keel, Mason (LAF) 1-1, unfinished
6. Massie, Tucker (NAVY) vs. DeBenedetto, Matt (LAF) 0-0, unfinished