ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy (11-5) men's tennis team lost a pair of 4-3 decisions to Binghamton (6-5) and Richmond (8-2) Saturday at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
 
In the first match of the day, the Bearcats won two of the three doubles matches to earn the doubles point.  Binghamton then won the first two singles matches to finish to increase its lead to 3-0.  Romesh Kahatapitiya (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) won a straight set decision for the Mids at No. 3 singles to place Navy on the scoreboard, but the Bearcats won the next match to finish to clinch the victory.
 
"We had a really good start in doubles, but we were unable to see it through as Binghamton played well down the stretch to take a 1-0 lead," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.  "In singles, they were just too good at Nos. 1, 4 and 5.  Conners O'Brien (Fr., Rensselaer, N.Y.) played very well in winning at No. 6.  We weren't expecting him to play, but he took advantage of the opportunity."
 
Navy would win two of the three doubles matches from Richmond to go up 1-0, but the Spiders won the first two singles matches to finish to take a 2-1 lead.  Navy regained the lead at 3-2 with wins by Andrew Ton (So., Milpitas, Calif.) at No. 1 and Derrick Thompson (Fr., Towson, Md.) at No. 2, but the Spiders soon tied the match at 3-3.  Richmond's John Walsh would post a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Peter Lohrbach (So., Little Neck, N.Y.) to close out the match.
 
"Great start in doubles at all the courts with our Nos. 1 and 2 teams finishing strong," said Garner.  "In singles, Andrew and Derrick got us to three points.  We had momentum and opportunities at Nos. 3, 5, and 6 but Richmond played great and competed very well to take all three of those points to secure the win."
 
Navy will play host to Fordham and Delaware on March 3.
 
Binghamton 4, Navy 3
Doubles (3-2-1)
1. Tiago Lourenco/Kushaan Nath (BING) def. Kahatapitiya, Romesh/Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) 7-5
2. Ludovico Cestarollo/Alejandro Pena (BING) def. Lee, Matthew/McBride, Jack (NAVY) 6-4
3. Kirkpatrick, Cameron/Vagner, Sam (NAVY) def. Dylan Friedman/Inigo Saez (BING) 6-2
Singles (1-5-3-4-2-6)
1. Ludovico Cestarollo (BING) def. Lee, Matthew (NAVY) 6-1, 6-1
2. Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) def. Kushaan Nath (BING) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6)
3. Kahatapitiya, Romesh (NAVY) def. Dylan Friedman (BING) 6-1, 7-5
4. Tiago Lourenco (BING) def. Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) 6-2, 6-2
5. Inigo Saez (BING) def. Vagner, Sam (NAVY) 6-3, 6-0
6. O'Brien, Conners (NAVY) def. Alejandro Pena (BING) 7-5, 0-6, 1-0 (10-3)
 
Richmond 4, Navy 3
Doubles (1-2-3)
1. #56 Dabek, Jack/Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Fernandez, Matt/Keitelman, Josh (RICH) 6-1
2. Lohrbach, Peter/Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Lovitt, George/Walsh, John (RICH) 6-3
3. Evans, Klein/Nardini, Joe (RICH) def. Durham, Greg/Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) 6-4
Singles (6-4-1-2-3-5)
1. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Polender, Brice (RICH) 6-6, 6-3
2. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Fernandez, Matt (RICH) 6-4, 7-5
3. Evans, Klein (RICH) def. Durham, Greg (NAVY) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
4. Lovitt, George (RICH) def. Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) 6-4, 6-1
5. Walsh, John (RICH) def. Dabek, Jack (NAVY) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
6. Erwin, Campbell (RICH) def. Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) 7-5, 6-3