Navy Sports

GreatAmerican
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:49:45 +0000

Navy def. Lafayette, 4-0
Patriot League Tournament Semifinal

For Immediate Release
Sent Saturday, April 26, 2008
Contact Justin Kischefsky (410) 293-8772

Army and Navy to Meet Sunday in League Tennis Championship

HAMILTON, N.Y. - One week after facing each other for bragging rights in the annual Star Match between the two programs, the Army and Navy tennis teams will play Sunday in the final of the Patriot League Tournament with a berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line. Navy, the top seed in the championship that is being contested in Hamilton, N.Y., advanced to the final with a 4-0 win over No. 5 Lafayette Saturday, while No. 2 Army posted a 4-0 win over No. 3 Bucknell in its semifinal match.

“We played very well today in the doubles,” said Navy head coach John Officer. “It was kind of a mixed bag of results in the singles. We had several guys play very well and some guys who didn’t play as well as they were capable of. We are going to need everyone playing at their best Sunday.”

The Mids won the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and 3 flights. First to finish was the No. 3 match where Nick Birger (Fr., Belleville, Ill.) and Jason Hill (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) recorded an 8-3 win over Kyle MacLelland and Matt McGranaghan, then Alex James (Sr., Visalia, Calif.) and Ramsey Lemaich (So., Danville, Calif.) posted an 8-2 victory over James Murphy and Eric Wiley.

Navy quickly recorded wins in a trio of singles matches to move on to its second-straight final. Nate Nelms (Jr., St. Mary’s, Ga.) posted a 6-1, 6-0 win over Wiley at No. 1, Hill won a 6-0, 6-0 decision over McGranaghan and Johnny Waters (Jr., Papillion, Neb.) outlasted Brett Kraft, 6-3, 7-5.

Sunday’s final between the Mids and the Black Knights is slated to begin at 1 p.m.

Navy won last weekend’s Star Match over Army by the score of 4-3 and defeated Army, 4-0, in the championship match of the 2007 league tournament.

1 Navy (19-8) def. #5 Lafayette (8-6), 4-0

Doubles (Match Finish Order: 3-2)
1 - Nelms / Waters (N) led Kojanis / Kraft, 5-4 - DNF
2 - James / Lemaich (N) def. Murphy / Wiley, 8-2
3 - Nick Birger / Hill (N) def. Kyle MacLelland / McGranaghan, 8-3

Singles (Match Finish Order: 1-3-2-5-4-6)
1 - Nate Nelms (N) def. Eric Wiley, 6-1, 6-0
2 - John Waters (N) def. Brett Kraft, 6-3, 7-5
3 - Jason Hill (N) def. Matt McGranaghan, 6-0, 6-0
4 - Ramsey Lemaich (N) def. Justin Haar, 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-3), 1-0 (10-8)*
5 - Alex James (N) def. Lee Kojanis 6-1, 6-0*
6 - Owen Bullard (N) def. James Murphy 6-0, 6-2*


- Navy does not receive a team point for these victories due to having already clinched the overall match