ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Andrew Ton (So., Milpitas, Calif.) rallied after dropping the first set of his No. 1 singles match to record the match-clinching point for the Navy (16-8) men's tennis team in a 4-3 victory over UC Riverside (8-8) Tuesday in Riverside, Calif.  The Mids also lost a 4-0 decision to UC Irvine (8-3) on the day.
 
The Mids began their match against the Highlanders by winning all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 advantage. Ton and Jack Dabek (Fr., Dublin, Ohio), the 74^th ranked tandem in the country, defeated Gilbert Chung and Filip Engstrom, 6-2, at No. 1 doubles in the first match to finish.  Greg Durham (Jr., Melbourne Beach, Fla.) and Jan Kjellberg (Fr., White Plains, N.Y.) clinched the lone available point for the Mids with their 6-2 win at the No. 3 flight over Nabil Abdallah and Anderson Ju.
 
Romesh Kahatapitiya (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) gave Navy a 2-0 lead when he defeated Vignesh Subramanyan, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6 singles.  The lead grew to 3-0 after Derrick Thompson (Fr., Towson, Md.) recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Abdallah at No. 2 singles.
 
UC Riverside won straight-set matches at Nos. 3, 5 and 4 singles, respectively, to tie the match at 3-3.  That set the stage for the match atop the lineup between Ton and Kyle McCann.  Ton dropped the first set in a tiebreaker (9-7 was the score in the breaker) and won set number two, 6-2.  He then closed out the match with a 6-2 victory in the third set.
 
"It was a good start to the match to get the doubles point," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.  "In singles, Derrick and Romesh pulled away after close first set wins.  Andrew then made a strong comeback after dropping the first set to give us the fourth point."
 
Navy split its squad on the day and sent half of the team to face UC Irvine.  The Anteaters won the first two doubles matches to finish to take the early 1-0 lead, then won the first set in five of the six singles matches on their way to winning three of them.
 
Conners O'Brien (Fr., Rensselaer, N.Y.) was the lone Mid to win the first set of a match.  He led Aaron Bailey, 6-2, 0-4, at No. 4 singles when play was halted due to the overall match being decided.
 
"UC Irvine was a very solid opponent today," said Navy associate head coach John Moreland.  "They put us under pressure from the start and took the doubles point with a convincing win at the number three flight to set the tone for the match.  We competed well at the other two flights, but came up just short.  In singles, their depth proved too much for us to match.  Conners played very well in taking our only set on the day. 
 
"We have been getting more comfortable with outdoor tennis and look to build on the lessons from today's match."
 
Navy will close its quick trip to Southern California with Wednesday matches against Gonzaga –– 2 p.m. EDT, to played at UC Irvine –– and at Point Loma.  The latter match will have a video stream of all six courts available, but there is a charge to watch the 7 p.m. EDT contest.
 
Navy def. UC Riverside, 4-3
Doubles – Navy wins the doubles point (1-3-2)
1. #74 Dabek, Jack / Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Chung, Gilbert / Engstrom, Filip (UCR) 6-2
2. Kahatapitiya, Romesh / Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. McCann, Kyle / Whelan-Merediz, Andr (UCR) 7-6 (7-4)
3. Durham, Greg / Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) def. Abdallah, Nabil / Ju, Anderson (UCR) 6-2
Singles (6-2-3-5-4-1)
1. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. McCann, Kyle (UCR) 6-7 (7-9), 6-2, 6-2
2. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Abdallah, Nabil (UCR) 6-4, 6-1
3. Chung, Gilbert (UCR) def. Durham, Greg (NAVY) 6-2, 6-3
4. Ju, Anderson (UCR) def. Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) 6-3, 6-2
5. Whelan-Merediz, Andr (UCR) def. Dabek, Jack (NAVY) 6-4, 6-4
6. Kahatapitiya, Romesh (NAVY) def. Subramanyan, Vignesh (UCR) 6-3, 6-2
 
UC Irvine def. Navy, 4-0
Doubles – UC Irvine wins the doubles point (3-1)
1. Bajpai, Vatsal / Smolicki, Mateusz (UCI) def. Hicks, Andrew / Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) 6-2
2. Lopez, Luis / Man-Son-Hing, Bruce (UCI) vs. Kirkpatrick, Cameron / Vagner, Sam (NAVY) 4-3, unfinished
3. Bailey, Aaron / Krasnov, Sasha (UCI) def. Lee, Matthew / O'Brien, Conners (NAVY) 6-0
Singles (3-2-5)
1. Krasnov, Sasha (UCI) vs. Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) 6-2, 4-1, unfinished
2. Smolicki, Mateusz (UCI) def. Lee, Matthew (NAVY) 6-2, 6-3
3. Gealer, Daniel (UCI) def. Kirkpatrick, Cameron (NAVY) 6-0, 6-0
4. Bailey, Aaron (UCI) vs. O'Brien, Conners (NAVY) 2-6, 4-0, unfinished
5. Bajpai, Vatsal (UCI) def. Vagner, Sam (NAVY) 6-3, 6-0
6. Mkrtchian, Mike (UCI) vs. Hicks, Andrew (NAVY) 6-3, 1-2, unfinished