ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– A Patriot League road match and a non-league home match are on the slate for the Navy men's tennis team on Sunday as on that day the Mids (21-13, 1-0 Patriot League) will play at Boston U. (5-11, 0-0) and play host to Rider (2-6).
The match against the Terriers will begin at 11 a.m. at the Winchester Indoor Tennis Club in Winchester, Mass., and the match against the Broncs will start at 1 p.m. on either the outdoor courts at the Brigade Sports Complex or indoors at the adjacent Tose Family Tennis Center.
"Rider will be coming down to Annapolis hungry and eager for a competitive match on Sunday," said Navy head coach
Chris Garner. "The Navy-Boston U. matches have always been competitive. We are looking forward to the opportunity to travel to Boston to play an important league opponent."
Navy split doubleheaders at home last weekend, going 1-1 on both Saturday and Sunday. The Mids defeated La Salle (4-0) and Georgetown (4-3) and lost to James Madison (5-2) and Wagner (4-3).
Boston U. has reached the semifinal round of the Patriot League tournament in four of the five seasons (all but 2016) in which the Terriers have been members of the league. Navy and Boston U. have played five matches since the Terriers joined the Patriot League. The final score in both matches last year and in three of the five matches in the series has been 4-3. The Terriers won by that score during the regular season and the Mids earned a 4-3 victory in the semifinal round of the league tournament.
The Mids won the doubles point from the Terriers in both 2018 meetings. Navy won each of the five doubles matches that finished and held a 5-4 lead in the remaining league tournament match that was halted. Four of the singles matches in each contest were extended into three sets. Boston U. posted a 3-1 record in those three-set matches in each meeting. The third sets in the tournament dual were especially close as they were decided by scores of 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 and 7-6 (7-5).
Boston U. returns players who combined for a 7-3 record in singles against Navy a year ago. This includes David Bogatin, Owen Lu and Marc Sable, each of whom won two singles matches against the Mids in 2018. On the Navy side of the net, back for the Mids are
Andrew Ton (So., Milpitas, Calif.), who won both of his singles matches against the Terriers,
Peter Lohrbach (So., Little Neck, N.Y.), who was 0-2 against Boston U., and
Romesh Kahatapitiya (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) and
Greg Durham (Jr., Melbourne Beach, Fla.), both of whom lost one singles match in last year's duals.
The Terriers, who will face Holy Cross on Saturday, have suffered a pair of losses to nationally ranked Miami (No. 36) and Dartmouth (No. 28), and also have dropped matches to Bryant (6-1), East Carolina (7-0) and Fordham (4-3). Comparatively, Navy lost to Bryant (4-1) and East Carolina (5-2) and defeated Fordham (4-3).
Sunday's match will be just the second between Navy and Rider. The Mids defeated the Broncs, 7-0, in the first pairing of the teams in 2016.
Navy and Rider have each played Delaware, Monmouth, St. Francis Brooklyn and Fordham. The Mids have notched a 4-0 record against those teams and the Broncs have lost to all but St. Francis Brooklyn.
