ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– The Navy men's tennis team opened its spring break trip to Southern California with a pair of losses on Monday.  The Mids (15-7) lost a 4-3 decision to Concordia (6-3) Monday afternoon and a 7-0 match to Pepperdine (3-5) Monday night.

Navy swept the doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead on Concordia, but the Eagles won the first two singles matches to finish to take a 2-1 lead.  A three-set victory by Romesh Kahatapitiya (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) at No. 4 singles tied the match at 2-2.  The teams split the ensuing two matches to finish, with Navy's win recorded by Greg Durham (Jr., Melbourne Beach, Fla.) at No. 1 singles.  Concordia would close the match with a straight-set win at No. 6 singles to post the victory.

The Mids have now tallied a 3-3 record this year in matches decided by the score of 4-3.

"It was a solid start in doubles today, with Romesh and Jan Kjellberg (Fr., White Plains, N.Y.) leading the way with their 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.  "In singles, Greg fought back in a real close first set to win it in a tiebreaker, and Romesh came from being down a break of serve in the third set to get us to three points.  Concordia played real well at the other spots."

The other half of the Navy team faced Pepperdine Monday night.  The Waves won at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles by the identical score of 6-3 to take a 1-0 lead.  The unfinished No. 1 doubles match between Navy's Jack Dabek (Fr., Dublin, Ohio) and Andrew Ton (So., Milpitas, Calif.) was a close one.  Pepperdine's Tim Zeitvogel and Adrian Oeztbach held a 4-3 lead on the Mids when play was halted due to the doubles point being decided

The Waves would win each of the six singles matches in straight sets.

"It was a great experience for our guys to play Pepperdine in Malibu," said Navy associate head coach John Moreland.  "It was a great atmosphere during the match and good to get our first outdoor match under our belt.

"Our guys competed hard and were competitive in doubles.  In singles, Pepperdine showed its class.  Andrew had another good battle with Pepperdine's number one player, who he faced at the Oracle Masters.  We look to build from this experience heading into the remainder of our spring break matches."

Navy will split its squad Tuesday for matches against UC Riverside and UC Irvine.

Concordia def. Navy, 4-3
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (2-1-3)
1. Durham, Greg/Lee, Matthew (NAVY) def. Nikita Katsnelson/Shimon Murakami (CUI-MT) 6-4
2. Kahatapitiya, Romesh/Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) def. Otto Heinz/Daniel Reddmann (CUI-MT) 6-2
3. Hicks, Andrew/O'Brien, Conners (NAVY) def. Thomas Kyle/Yassine Smiej (CUI-MT) 7-6 (7-4)
Singles (3-2-4-5-1-6)
1. Durham, Greg (NAVY) def. Nikita Katsnelson (CUI-MT) 7-6 (8-6), 6-0
2. Yassine Smiej (CUI-MT) def. Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) 6-4, 6-2
3. Daniel Reddmann (CUI-MT) def. Lee, Matthew (NAVY) 6-2, 6-2
4. Kahatapitiya, Romesh (NAVY) def. Teis Visser (CUI-MT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
5. Thomas Kyle (CUI-MT) def. O'Brien, Conners (NAVY) 6-1, 1-6, 6-4
6. Shimon Murakami (CUI-MT) def. Hicks, Andrew (NAVY) 7-5, 6-2

Pepperdine def. Navy, 7-0
Doubles -- Pepperdine wins the doubles point (3-2)
1. Zeitvogel, Tim/Oeztbach, Adrian (PEPP) vs. #74 Dabek, Jack/Ton, Andrew (NAVY) 4-3, unfinished
2. Rico, Enrique Luque/Sborowitz, Matias (PEPP) def. Lohrbach, Peter/Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) 6-3
3. Jankowiak, Pawel/Summaria, Corrado (PEPP) def. Kirkpatrick, Cameron/Vagner, Sam (NAVY) 6-3
Singles (3-5-4-2-6-1)
1. Oeztbach, Adrian (PEPP) def. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
2. Rico, Enrique Luque (PEPP) def. Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) 6-3, 6-2
3. Summaria, Corrado (PEPP) def. Dabek, Jack (NAVY) 6-1, 6-1
4. Sborowitz, Matias (PEPP) def. Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) 6-4, 6-3
5. Zeitvogel, Tim (PEPP) def. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) 6-1, 6-3
6. Jankowiak, Pawel (PEPP) def. Vagner, Sam (NAVY) 6-3, 6-2