Final Stats

BETHLEHEM, Pa. â€"â€" The Navy men's tennis team posted a 7-0 victory over Lehigh Saturday afternoon at the Lewis Tennis Center in Bethlehem, Pa. The victory by the Mids (15-16) evened their Patriot League record this season at 1-1, while the loss by the Mountain Hawks (2-10) was their first decision against a league foe this year.

Three close doubles matches started the dual between the league foes. The two teams split the initial two matches to be completed, with the final match needing a tiebreaker to decide the doubles point. Navy's No. 3 team of Krishna Jana (Sr., Seabrook, Texas) and Andrey Majkic (Jr., Jacksonville, Fla.) would prevail over Lehigh's tandem of Jack Martin-Dyer and Jack Petersen by the score of 9-7 in the breaker to give the Mids a 1-0 advantage.

"The doubles point was decided by just a few points across all of the courts," said Navy head coach Chris Garner. "We were fortunate to be up 1-0 because it could have easily gone the other way."

Navy would win four straight-set singles matches and two in three sets to complete the 7-0 victory.

Aries Wong (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) gave the Mids a 2-0 lead when he defeated Petersen, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 2 singles. Gabriel Pilones (Fr., Bradenton, Fla.) increased the advantage to 3-0 with his 6-3, 6-3 victory over Colin Nardella at the No. 3 flight. Earning the match-clinching fourth team point for Navy was Jana when he held off Martin-Dyer, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 4 singles.

"Gabe, Aries and Krishna came up with straight-set wins to clinch the match for us," said Garner. "All three had some excellent volley winners and groundstroke rallies."

Thomas Pecor (Sr., Houston, Texas) made the score 5-0 in favor of Navy thanks to his 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5) victory over George Cooper at No. 1 singles, then the score became 6-0 after Zach Jennings (Fr., Snellville, Ga.) defeated Chris Auteri, 7-6, (7-2), 6-1, at the No. 5 flight. The final match on the courts saw Ian Landwehr (Fr., Daleville, Ind.) record a 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) win over Ethan Bogard at No. 6 singles.

Navy will step out of league play on Sunday, April 2 for matches in Washington, D.C., at Georgetown and against The Citadel.

Navy (15-16, 1-1) def. Lehigh, (2-10, 0-1), 7-0
Navy wins the doubles point (1-2-3)
1. Cooper, George / Lehman, Graham (LEH) def. Pecor, Thomas / Wong, Aries (NAVY) 6-3
2. Jennings, Zach / Pilones, Gabriel (NAVY) def. Bogard, Ethan / Nardella, Colin (LEH) 6-4
3. Jana, Krishna / Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) def. Martin-Dyer, Jack / Petersen, Jack (LEH) 7-6 (9-7)
Singles (2-3-4-1-5-6)
1. Pecor, Thomas (NAVY) def. Cooper, George (LEH) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5)
2. Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Petersen, Jack (LEH) 6-1, 6-4
3. Pilones, Gabriel (NAVY) def. Nardella, Colin (LEH) 6-3, 6-3
4. Jana, Krishna (NAVY) def. Martin-Dyer, Jack (LEH) 7-5, 6-4
5. Jennings, Zach (NAVY) def. Auteri, Chris (LEH) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1
6. Landwehr, Ian (NAVY) def. Bogard, Ethan (LEH) 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)