ANNAPOLIS, Md. –– Andrew Ton (Sr., Milpitas, Calif.) dropped a combined four games in winning his two matches during a 5-2 victory by the Navy men's tennis team (4-0, 2-0 Patriot League) over Lehigh (3-1, 1-1), Saturday afternoon on the USNA Tennis Courts in Annapolis.

Today was Navy's first match on its outdoor courts since October 2019.

It was team strength vs. team strength in the doubles matches as the Mids entered the day with a combined record of 9-0 in doubles and the Mountain Hawks had combined for a 6-3 record this year.  

The first match to finish was at the No. 1 flight where Sasha Panyan (Fr., Lutherville, Md.) and Ton blanked Zach Elliott and Harry Wang.  The Mids earned the doubles point when their No. 2 team of Jack Dabek (Jr., Dublin, Ohio) and Derrick Thompson (Jr., Towson, Md.) posted a 6-4 win over Jacob Edelchik and Gary Fishkin.  The Navy tandem trailed, 3-2, before winning the next three games to take a 5-3 lead.  After Lehigh held serve, the Mids matched that effort to close out the match.

"Andrew and Sasha got the ball rolling for us in doubles with a hot start," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.  "Derrick and Jack had some terrific shots to secure the doubles point."

The remaining match saw Lehigh's Matt Kleiman and Jeremy Learner outlast Jake Fishkin (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) and Jack McBride (Jr., Chapel Hill, N.C.) in a tiebreaker.  The Navy tandem never led in the set before forcing a tiebreaker.  The Mids would have nine match points against the Mountain Hawks before dropping the tiebreaker by the score of 11-9.

Once singles play began, Navy took a 2-0 lead in the team score when Finn Garner (So., Arnold, Md.) posted a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Learner at the No. 4 flight.

After not losing a game in his doubles match, Ton recorded a 6-0 victory in the first set of his No. 1 singles match against Elliott.  The streak ended when Ton dropped the first game of the second set.  He responded by winning the next three to take a 3-1 advantage.  Elliott rallied with two breaks of serve sandwiched around him holding serve to take a 4-3 lead.  Ton answered by breaking Elliott (4-4), holding serve (5-4) and breaking Elliott once more to make the team score 3-0.

Gavin Segraves (So., Charlottesville, Va.) clinched the overall decision for the Mids when he defeated Edelchik, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 5 singles.

"Andrew kept the momentum going in singles as he got off to a quick start," said Garner.  "Finn and Gavin followed suit to help the team secure the four needed points."

Lehigh's Jordan Paul gave the Mountain Hawks their first point thanks to his 6-3, 6-4 win over Jan Kjellberg (Jr., White Plains, N.Y.) at No. 6 singles.

Navy placed another point on the scoreboard when Thompson defeated Wang, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).  There were four lead changes in the second set before the tiebreaker began.  Thompson jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the breaker, only to see Wang respond with a 3-0 run of his own to tie the proceedings.  Thompson held serve, then registered a break of serve to take a 5-3 lead.  Wang held serve (5-4), then Thompson held his two serves to end the match.

The last match left on the courts was the No. 3 contest between Navy's Fishkin and Lehigh's Kleiman.  The pair split close sets one (Kleiman, 7-5) and two (Fishkin, 6-4).   The pair would play a 10-point tiebreaker in lieu of a complete third set due to the overall match being decided.  Kleiman would prevail, 10-6.

Navy will next play at Bucknell on April 10.

Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (1-2-3)
1. Panyan, Sasha / Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Elliott, Zack / Wang, Harry (LEH) 6-0
2. Dabek, Jack / Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Edelchik, Jacob / Fishkin, Gary (LEH) 6-4
3. Kleiman, Matt / Learner, Jeremy (LEH) def. Fishkin, Jake / McBride, Jack (NAVY) 7-6 (11-9)
Singles (4-1-5-6-2-3)
1. Ton, Andrew (NAVY) def. Elliott, Zack (LEH) 6-0, 6-4
2. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Wang, Harry (LEH) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Kleiman, Matt (LEH) def. Fishkin, Jake (NAVY) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)
4. Garner, Finn (NAVY) def. Learner, Jeremy (LEH) 6-1, 6-1
5. Segraves, Gavin (NAVY) def. Edelchik, Jacob (LEH) 6-4, 6-2
6. Paul, Jordan (LEH) def. Kjellberg, Jan (NAVY) 6-3, 6-4