WEST POINT, N.Y. –– Andrew Ton (So., Milpitas, Calif.) recorded a break of serve late in the third set to extend his No. 1 singles match, then didn't allow a point in winning a tiebreaker to give the Navy men's tennis team a dramatic 4-3 victory over Army West Point, Sunday at the Malek Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y., in the championship match of the Patriot League Tournament.
 
The win by the top-seeded Mids (31-13) over the second-seeded Black Knights (14-14) sends Navy to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, the third time in head coach Chris Garner's five seasons and the eighth time in the last 13 seasons.  The victory also was Navy's 12^th Patriot League title in the 26 seasons the league has utilized the head-to-head match tournament format to determine its champion.
 
"It was another incredible match today between two teams playing their hearts out," said Garner. 
 
Navy began the day by winning the doubles point.  Greg Durham (Jr., Melbourne Beach, Fla.) and Jake Fishkin (Fr., Baltimore, Md.) posted a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles over Diego Huttepain and Alejandro Quiros in the first match to finish.  Ton and Jack Dabek (Fr., Dublin, Ohio) soon combined for a 6-4 win at the No. 1 flight over Myles Conlin and Nikita Larichev to give the point to the Mids.
 
The Navy tandem of Peter Lohrbach (So., Little Neck, N.Y.) and Derrick Thompson (Fr., Towson, Md.) held a 5-3 lead over David Gorshein and David Mitchell when their No. 2 doubles match was stopped.
 
The Mids also held a 1-0 in the Star Match between the teams played last week Saturday in West Point.  Navy would win that match, 4-0, to earn the No. 1 seed in this week's tournament.
 
Sunday's six singles matches featured rematches from the Star Match at the Nos. 1-4 flights.
 
Army tied the score today at 1-1 when Gorshein defeated Fishkin, 6-1, 6-2, at No. 5 singles.  The Black Knights then took a 2-1 lead after Larichev defeated Jack McBride (Fr., Chapel Hill, N.C.), 6-4, 6-1, at No. 4 singles.  McBride defeated Larichev, 6-1, 6-3, eight days ago, and Fishkin held a 4-1 lead in the third set of his match last week when it was stopped.
 
"Army really came on strong in singles after we won the doubles point," said Garner.  "They took commanding leads at 1, 4, 5 and 6 singles, winning convincingly at 4 and 5 to take a 2-1 lead."
 
Thompson tied the match at 2-2 when he recorded a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Huttepain at No. 3 singles.  Huttepain led Thompson, 7-5, 2-4, last Saturday when their match was halted.
 
The score would quickly be tied at 3-3 as each team won a match within minutes of each other.  Durham defeated Mitchell, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, at No. 3 and Anant Mundra beat Lohrbach, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, at No. 6.  Durham defeated Mitchell, 6-3, 6-2, last week, and Lohrbach won a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Gorshein in the Star Match.
 
"Peter was able to fight back to force a third set, but his opponent proved to be too strong," said Garner.  "Derrick and Greg came up with some great tennis in their third sets to even the match.  That set the stage for the top players from both teams to decide the match."
 
The last match remaining was the No. 1 dual between Ton and Conlin.  Conlin held a 6-4, 4-2 lead during the Star Match when the overall match was decided and play was stopped.  Sunday, Conlin won the first set by the score of 6-3.  Ton claimed set two, 7-5, to send the match to a third set.  Ton led, 4-3 in the third set, but Conlin held serve and broke Ton to take a 5-4 lead.  Ton broke right back to tie the stanza at 5-5, then each player held serve to send the match into a tiebreaker.  Ton would win all seven points in the breaker to win the match.
 
"It was back-and-forth the entire third set," said Garner of the Ton-Conlin match.  "Andrew was somehow able to hang on to play a tiebreaker.  He played some terrific tennis to win it and send us to the NCAAs."
 
This isn't the first time Ton has rallied to give the Mids a 4-3 victory over the Black Knights.  In last year's Star Match, he lost the first set but won the second to force a third set.  He then trailed, 5-2, but won the next four games to take a 6-5 lead and serve for the match.  He trailed 15-40, but won the next three points to close out the victory in Annapolis.
 
Thompson was named the MVP of this weekend's tournament.  He won all three of his singles matches, won the one doubles match that was completed and held leads of 5-2 and 5-3, respectively, in the two that were halted.
 
The 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 29.  The first round matches will be played on Friday, May 3.
 
Navy def. Army, 4-3
Doubles – Navy wins the doubles point (3-1)
1. Dabek, Jack / Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Conlin, Myles / Larichev, Nikita (ARMY) 6-4
2. Lohrbach, Peter / Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) led Gorshein, David / Mitchell, David (ARMY) 5-3, unfinished
3. Durham, Greg / Fishkin, Jake (NAVY) def. Huttepain, Diego / Quiros, Alejandro (ARMY) 6-3
Singles (5-4-2-3-6-1)
1. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Conlin, Myles (ARMY) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-0)
2. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Huttepain, Diego (ARMY) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3. Durham, Greg (NAVY) def. Mitchell, David (ARMY) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
4. Larichev, Nikita (ARMY) def. McBride, Jack (NAVY) 6-4, 6-1
5. Gorshein, David (ARMY) def. Fishkin, Jake (NAVY) 6-1, 6-2
6. Mundra, Anant (ARMY) def. Lohrbach, Peter (NAVY) 6-1, 1-6, 6-4