CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Defending NCAA Champion Virginia began its quest for another national title with a 4-0 victory over the Navy men's tennis team, Saturday afternoon at the Boars Head Resort in Charlottesville, Va., in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The victory by the fifth-ranked Cavaliers (25-4) over the Mids (23-20) advances them to a second round match on Sunday against No. 26 Ole Miss.

Navy had advanced to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of winning its fifth Patriot League title in a row.

"The year was an incredible ride," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.  "Credit to the seniors for establishing the culture.  The freshman class grew a great deal throughout the year.  It is a players team; they have built the culture and continue to make it their own each season."

Navy's doubles teams have played well in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments and they did so again today despite losing the doubles point.

Navy's No. 3 team of Christian Pumpelly (Sr., Atlanta, Ga.) and Gavin Segraves (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) won the first game of its match against Ryan Goetz and Alexander Kiefer.  The Cavaliers won the ensuing five games on their way to winning the set by the score of 6-2.

At No. 2 doubles, Navy's Finn Garner (Sr., Arnold, Md.) and Nathan Nguyen (Fr., McLean, Va.) spent most of the set tied with Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg.  The frame was tied at 1-1, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Virginia won the next two games to claim the set and secure the doubles point.

In the remaining match at the No. 1 flight, Navy's Luke Garner (So., Arnold, Md.) and Sasha Panyan (Jr., Lutherville, Va.) were locked in a similarly close match with the No. 58 team in the country, Inaki Montes and William Woodall.  Neither team held more than a one-game advantage over the other and the match ended with a tie score of 5-5.

"Our one and two doubles teams had some openings to win the doubles point," said Garner.  "Credit to Virginia's second team; they didn't give us any free points at the end of the set and really played to win.  Finn and Nathan, who were a late addition as a team to our doubles lineup late in the season when Finn was cleared to play (after tearing his ACL in late October), really improved as they gained more opportunities to play together.  Sasha and Luke at number one had some opportunities to open the set in our favor but were unable to do so.  Having said that, they stayed the course to give themselves a chance against a nationally-ranked team."

Virginia, which features a singles lineup with four nationally-ranked players, would win the first set at each of the six singles flights to take control of the matches.

"Virginia showed their strength in singles as all of their guys played very solid tennis," said Garner.

No. 5 Virginia 4, Navy 0
Doubles -- Virginia wins the doubles point (3-2)
1. #58 Montes, Inaki / Woodall, William (UVA) vs. Garner, Luke / Panyan, Sasha, 5-5, unfinished
2. Rodesch, Chris / Schulenburg, J vd (UVA) def. Garner, Finn / Nguyen, Nathan 7-5
3. Goetz, Ryan / Kiefer, Alexander (UVA) def. Pumpelly, Christian / Segraves, Gavin, 6-2
Singles (3-6-5)
1. #9 Rodesch, Chris (UVA) vs. Panyan, Sasha, 6-4, 5-1, unfinished
2. #26 Montes, Inaki (UVA) vs. Segraves, Gavin, 6-1, 5-0, unfinished
3. #49 Schulenburg, J vd (UVA) def. Garner, Luke, 6-2, 6-2
4. #87 Goetz, Ryan (UVA) vs. Legaspi, Herrick, 6-2, 4-2, unfinished
5. Kiefer, Alexander (UVA) def. Etterbeek, J.J., 6-1, 6-1
6. Dahlberg, Mans (UVA) def. Ayinala, Aniketh, 6-0, 6-3