Jan. 21, 2018

Final Stats

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy men's tennis team closed a successful opening weekend of the season by winning a pair of matches Sunday at the Tose Family Tennis Center. The Mids (3-0) recorded a 6-1 victory over St. Bonaventure (0-2) and a 7-0 win over Saint Peter's (0-1).

Navy won the first two doubles matches against St. Bonaventure to earn the doubles point. The winning teams for the Mids -- Andrew Ton (Fr., Milpitas, Calif.) and Aries Wong (Sr., Bethesda, Md.) at No. 1, Matthew Lee (So., San Diego, Calif.) and Gabriel Pilones (So., Bradenton, Fla.) at No. 2 -- lost a combined three games in the two matches.

Pilones then recorded a 6-3, 6-3 win over Lukas Malmberg at No. 4 singles to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Mids. Cameron Kirkpatrick (Jr., Menlo Park, Calif.) soon followed with a three-set victory (6-3 in the final set) over Jonni Heikkila at No. 6 singles to increase Navy's lead to 3-0. Ton would post a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over Victor Blanco at the No. 1 flight to secure the overall victory.

In addition to Ton and Pilones, Lee (No. 3) also won a pair of matches against the Bonnies.

"In doubles," said Navy head coach Chris Garner, "Matthew and Gabriel came out playing very well. They were very solid in all areas of their games which put a lot of pressure on their opponents.

"In singles, Gabriel and Cameron started very quickly. Both were playing very aggressively while also sharing great energy with their teammates. I was really pleased with the way they led their teammates. And while Andrew Ton won a close first set, his second set was dominant to secure the fourth team point for the win."

In the second match of the day, the Mids swept the three doubles matches from the Peacocks to take an 1-0 lead. Greg Durham (So., Melbourne Beach, Fla.) and Zach Jennings (So., Snellville, Ga.) recorded a 6-1 win over Hector Jacome and John Oxner at No. 1 doubles, then Romesh Kahatapitiya (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) and Joshua Martin (Sr., Foley, Ala.) put together a 6-2 victory over Gabriel Russotto and Ignacio Tintore at No. 3 doubles to give the Mids the point.

Navy would go on to win four of the six singles matches in straight sets. Andrew Hicks (Jr., Haddon Heights, N.J.) lost just two games in winning at No. 6 singles, Walker Sims (Sr., Memphis, Tenn.) also lost two games in posting his win at No. 2 singles, and Durham won a 7-5, 6-1 decision over Jacome at the No. 1 flight to earn Navy's fourth team point of the match. Rounding out the straight-set winners was Martin at No. 5 singles.

"The big fellows, Zach and Greg, had very few mistakes to go along with a lot of power to win at No. 1," said Garner, "while Romesh and Joshua's intangibles helped secure the doubles point. Although a number of the singles matches had very competitive first sets, Walker, Joshua and Andrew Hicks each jumped out to early leads. All three would build upon their great starts to help the team secure the win."

Navy will play six matches this coming weekend, a stretch that includes a pair of home matches on both Friday (La Salle, Univ. of the Sciences) and Saturday (Howard, St. Francis Brooklyn) and road contests Friday at East Carolina and Saturday against Winthrop in a match to be played at ECU.

Navy (2-0) def. St. Bonaventure (0-2), 6-1
Doubles - Navy wins the doubles point (1-2-3)
1. Ton, Andrew / Wong, Aries (NAVY) def. Blanco, Victor / Malmberg, Lukas (SBU) 6-1
2. Lee, Matthew / Pilones, Gabriel (NAVY) def. Harxhi, Darrel / Martinez, Hector (SBU) 6-2
3. Garcia, Guillermo / Patwardhan, Indra (SBU) def. Hicks, Andrew / Sims, Walker (NAVY) 7-6 (7-4)
Singles (4-6-1-3-5-2)
1. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Blanco, Victor (SBU) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1
2. Martinez, Hector (SBU) def. Wong, Aries (NAVY) 7-6 (14-12), 5-7, 1-0 (12-10)
3. Lee, Matthew (NAVY) def. Patwardhan, Indra (SBU) 6-7 (6-8), 3-1, retired
4. Pilones, Gabriel (NAVY) def. Malmberg, Lukas (SBU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) def. Garcia, Guillermo (SBU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
6. Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) def. Heikkila, Jonni (SBU) 6-1, 0-6, 6-3

Navy (3-0) def. Saint Peter's (0-1), 7-0
Doubles - Navy wins the doubles point (1-3-2)
1. Durham, Greg / Jennings, Zach (NAVY) def. Jacome, Hector / Oxner, John (SPC) 6-1
2. Lohrbach, Peter / Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) def. Knezevic, Ivan / Sowinski, Piotr (SPC) 7-5
3. Kahatapitiya, Romesh / Martin, Joshua (NAVY) def. Russotto, Gabriel / Tintore, Ignacio (SPC) 6-2
Singles (6-5-2-1-3-4)
1. Durham, Greg (NAVY) def. Jacome, Hector (SPC) 7-5, 6-1
2. Sims, Walker (NAVY) def. Sowinski, Piotr (SPC) 6-0, 6-2
3. Kahatapitiya, Romesh (NAVY) def. Oxner, John (SPC) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8)
4. Majkic, Andrey (NAVY) def. Tintore, Ignacio (SPC) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-2)
5. Martin, Joshua (NAVY) def. Nover, Douglas (SPC) 6-1, 6-1
6. Hicks, Andrew (NAVY) def. Knezevic, Ivan (SPC) 6-0, 6-2