Men's Tennis | 2/8/2024 3:36:00 PM
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Navy (8-0) men's tennis team will travel to Philadelphia Friday for two matches at Penn (3-3) and then play host to Long Island (3-1) and Youngstown State (3-2) Saturday in Annapolis. The Mids will play the Quakers at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the school's Hecht Tennis Center, then face the Sharks at 10 a.m. and the Penguins at 1:30 p.m. in the Tose Family Tennis Center.
Live results from Navy's Saturday matches can be found at NavySports.com.
Navy Update
The Mids posted four victories last week to improve their record to 8-0 through three weeks of play. Navy recorded 7-0 and 6-1 wins over Rider, a 7-0 victory over Howard and a 4-1 win over Saint Joseph's.
Navy compiled an impressive 20-2 record in singles and an 8-3 record in doubles over the course of the four matches.
Pacing the team in victories were
Aniketh Ayinala and
J.J. Etterbeek as the pair each posted four wins. The players combined for two victories as a No. 2 doubles team, Ayinala won his Nos. 3 and 4 singles matches and Etterbeek recorded victories at Nos. 2 and 3 singles.
Penn Preview
Friday's matches were originally slated to be played Jan. 19 but had to be postponed due to weather.
The Quakers enter the week with a 3-3 record on the year. Penn has posted wins over Furman, Northern Arizona and Old Dominion and suffered losses to Tennessee, Florida Atlantic and VCU.
Penn's doubles team of Aaron Sandler and Kian Vakili is ranked 41st nationally and the tandem of Manfredi Graziani and Zachery Lim is ranked 52nd.
Penn compiled a 13-9 overall record last season and posted a 5-2 record in Ivy League play. The Quakers tallied a 2-6 record when facing nationally-ranked teams a year ago.
The Quakers defeated the Mids, 7-0, last year in Philadelphia to take a 61-34-1 lead in the all-time series between the teams.
Long Island Preview
The Sharks head into a Friday match against Morgan State having won three-straight outings by the score of 5-2. LIU has defeated Colgate and Northeast Conference opponents Stone Hill and Merrimack during the run. This came after the team opened the season with a 7-0 loss to St. John's.
LIU posted an 8-14 record a year ago and finished NEC play with a 2-3 record. The fourth-seeded Sharks lost in the semifinal round of the NEC Tournament to top-seeded St. Francis Brooklyn.
One of the team's losses last season was a 6-1 defeat to Navy in what was the first match between the teams.
Youngstown State
The Penguins go into a Friday match at William & Mary with a 3-2 record this season. Youngstown State has notched victories over Binghamton, Butler and Georgetown and dropped matches to Creighton and Omaha.
Youngstown State compiled an overall record of 13-11 last season and a Horizon League record of 6-2. The Penguins lost in the semifinal round of the 2023 conference tournament.
This is the third year in a row in which the teams are facing each other. Navy won a 4-3 decision in Annapolis two years ago and Youngstown State posted a 6-1 victory last season in Youngstown.
