BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Herrick Legaspi and Charlie Spencer won a pair of matches during a 4-0 victory by the Navy men's tennis team over Army in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal round match played Saturday afternoon in Bethlehem, Pa.  The win by the second-seeded Mids (26-17) over the third-seeded Black Knights (18-11) advances them to Sunday's championship match against top-seeded Lehigh.  That match will start at 2 p.m.

Lehigh defeated Navy by the score of 4-3 on March 28.

"It was a great win today to move into tomorrow's finals," said Navy head coach Chris Garner, who has taken the Mids to the championship match in each of his 11 Patriot League Tournaments.

Poor weather in the Lehigh Valley made for a long day on the courts.  Play was moved to the indoor Lewis Tennis Center, which has only four available courts.  The three doubles matches were all played at once as normal, but it meant that the Nos. 5 and 6 singles matches had to wait for singles matches to finish before they could begin. This significantly extended the length of the matches.  The 11 a.m. Lehigh vs. Bucknell semifinal match -–– a 4-2 win by Lehigh –– didn't finish until just after 3 p.m., which was the original start time for the Army-Navy match.  This meant first serve in the doubles matches between the Mids and the Black Knights didn't occur until after 4 p.m.

Navy took a 1-0 lead after the doubles matches thanks to 6-1 victories at the Nos. 1 and 3 flights.  Legaspi and Spencer defeated Daniel Choi and Jack Hanna at the former while Lachlan Buckingham and Jake Young combined for the victory at the latter over Tucker Culpepper and Marcus Sebastian.

The No. 2 match was halted with Aniketh Ayinala and Tommy Kim holding a 5-2 lead on Jimin Jung and Alan Ton.

The Mids then won the first set at each of the four singles matches that initially took to the courts, with three of them being decided by one break of serve and the fourth in a tiebreaker.

"After getting the doubles point," said Garner, "the singles matches were very close.  Our four players pulled ahead right at the end of the first sets."

Kim completed a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles over Matias Feoli, Herrick Legaspi defeated Jackson Armstead 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles to make the score 3-0.  Those matches finishing allowed the Nos. 5 and 6 singles matches to start.  

While those began, the Nos. 2 and 3 matches entered third sets.  Those last two matches to start were in the early stages of their opening sets when Spencer registered a 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 win over Ton at No. 3 singles to end play and give the Mids their 14th win in a row over the Black Knights.  Spencer had clinched last week's 4-1 Star Match decision when he defeated Ton, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.

"Tommy was in his element and responded well to the situation," said Garner.  "Herrick was able to ride the momentum after his first set and played some good offensive and defensive tennis.  Charlie was able to close it out by applying some nice pressure in big moments."

Ayinala held a 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 2-0 lead on Jung at No. 2 singles when it was halted with the win by Spencer.

Navy 4, Army 0
Doubles -- Navy wins the doubles point (1-3)
1. Legaspi, Herrick / Spencer, Charlie (NAVY) def. Choi, Daniel / Hanna, Jack (ARMY) 6-1
2. Ayinala, Aniketh / Kim, Tommy (NAVY) vs. Jung, Jimin / Ton, Alan (ARMY) 5-2, unfinished
3. Buckingham, Lachlan / Young, Jake (NAVY) def. Culpepper, Tucker / Sebastian, Marcus (ARMY) 6-1
Singles (4-1-3)
1. Legaspi, Herrick (NAVY) def. Armistead, Jackson (ARMY) 7-5, 6-2
2. Ayinala, Aniketh (NAVY) vs. Jung, Jimin (ARMY) 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 2-0, unfinished
3. Spencer, Charlie (NAVY) def. Ton, Alan (ARMY) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
4. Kim, Tommy (NAVY) def. Feoli, Matias (ARMY) 6-4, 6-2
5. Etterbeek, J.J. (NAVY) vs. Hanna, Jack (ARMY) 2-3, unfinished
6. Nguyen, Steve (NAVY) vs. Culpepper, Tucker (ARMY) 2-2, unfinished

Tournament Schedule / Results
Thursday, April 23 – First Round 
M1: No. 9 Lafayette def. No. 8 Holy Cross, 4-3

Friday, April 24 – Quarterfinals 
M2: No. 1 Lehigh def. No. 9 Lafayette, 4-0 
M3: No. 5 Bucknell def. No. 4 Boston University, 4-1
M4: No. 3 Army West Point def. No. 6 Loyola Maryland, 4-0
M5: No. 2 Navy def. No. 7 Colgate, 4-0

Saturday, April 25 – Semifinals 
M6: No. 1 Lehigh def. No. 5 Bucknell, 4-2
M7: No. 2 Navy def. No. 3 Army West Point, 4-0

Sunday, April 26 – Championship Match
M8: No. 1 Lehigh vs. No. 2 Navy | 2 p.m.