ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Nathan Nguyen won a third-set tiebreaker to close out a 4-2 victory by the Navy men's tennis team (24-14) over Army (13-8), Saturday in the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament in Lewisburg, Pa.  All six singles matches between the top-seeded Mids and the fourth-seeded Black Knights were stretched to three sets in a match lasting nearly three and one-half hours.

Initial research shows that no Army-Navy match dating back to 2001 had all six singles matches go to three sets.

"Incredible match!" said Navy head coach Chris Garner, whose Mids have now won 11-straight matches against Army.  "Obviously when every singles match goes to a third set, it is an extremely close match.  Both teams dug deep."

Navy played very well in doubles as its three teams lost a combined four games to give it a 1-0 lead.  Herrick Legaspi and Charlie Spencer combined for a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles over Jackson Armistead and Daniel Choi in the first match to finish.  Luke Garner and Jake Young defeated Jack Hanna and Marcus Sebastian by the same score at the No. 1 flight to finish play.  The remaining match saw the Navy team of Aniketh Ayinala and Jason Kim holding a 5-2 lead on Vishnu Bodavula and Alan Ton when it was stopped.

Winning the doubles point meant the Mids needed to win three of the six singles matches and the Black Knights needed to win four of them.  Navy was on track to do just that as it won the first set in three matches.

Army tied the match at 1-1 when Armstead defeated Legaspi, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 1 singles.

Garner returned the lead to Navy (2-1) when he posted a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Bodavula at the No. 3 flight.  

Army's Matias Feoli tied the score again (2-2) with his 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4 victory over J.J. Etterbeek at No. 5 singles.

Ayinala gave the Mids a 3-2 lead when he defeated Davis McDonald, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, at No. 6 singles.

"Luke was able to get us to two points with a nice win," said Garner, "followed by Aniketh closing strong to get us to three points."

Nguyen won the first set of his No. 2 singles match against Ton by the score of 6-3.  Ton bounced back with a 6-4 victory in the second set.  Nguyen built a 5-2 lead in the third set only to see Ton tie the frame at 5-5.  Nguyen broke Ton to take a 6-5 lead, then had one serve for the match at the deuce point.  Ton won the point to send the set into the tiebreaker.  Ton served the first point of the breaker and won it, but Nguyen responded by winning the next three.  The players alternated the ensuing four points, then Nguyen broke Ton for the second-straight serve to take a 6-3 advantage.  Nguyen converted his next serve for a point to end the afternoon.

"Nathan and Alan kept going back-and-forth the entire match," said Garner.  "Just a point here and there was the difference.  Nathan closed it out with a beautiful shot."

The last match on the courts saw Hanna holding a 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 3-1 lead on Young at No. 4 singles.

Navy will play either second-seeded Bucknell or third-seeded Lehigh Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship match.  The Mids are in the final for the 13th league tournament in a row.

Navy 4, Army 2
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (2-1)
1. Garner, Luke / Young, Jake (NAVY) def. Hanna, Jack / Sebastian, Marcus (ARMY) 6-1
2. Legaspi, Herrick / Spencer, Charlie (NAVY) def. Armistead, Jackson / Choi, Daniel (ARMY) 6-1
3. Ayinala, Aniketh / Kim, Jason (NAVY) vs. Bodavula, Vishnu / Ton, Alan (ARMY) 5-2, unfinished
Singles (1-3-5-6-2)
1. Armistead, Jackson (ARMY) def. Legaspi, Herrick (NAVY) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
2. Nguyen, Nathan (NAVY) def. Ton, Alan (ARMY) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3)
3. Garner, Luke (NAVY) def. Bodavula, Vishnu (ARMY) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
4. Young, Jake (NAVY) vs. Hanna, Jack (ARMY) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-3, unfinished
5. Feoli, Matias (ARMY) def. Etterbeek, J.J. (NAVY) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
6. Ayinala, Aniketh (NAVY) def. McDonald, Davis (ARMY) 6-3, 5-7, 6-1

2025 Patriot League Men's Tennis Championship Schedule
Thursday, April 17– First Round
No. 9 Boston University def. No. 8 Loyola Maryland, 4-3

Friday, April 18 – Quarterfinals
No. 1 Navy def. No. 9 Boston University, 4-0
No. 4 Army West Point def. No. 5 Colgate, 4-2
No. 3 Lehigh def. No. 6 Holy Cross, 4-0
No. 2 Bucknell def. No. 7 Lafayette, 4-0

Saturday, April 19 – Semifinals
No. 1 Navy def. No. 4 Army, 4-2
No. 2 Bucknell vs. No. 3 Lehigh - 2 p.m.

Sunday, April 20 – Championship
No. 1 Navy vs. No. 2 Bucknell / No. 3 Lehigh - 1 p.m.