4/9/2005 - Men's Tennis
Mids Hold Off Mountain Hawks in Tennis
Adrian Lai |
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Adrian Lai (So., Tucson, Ariz.) teamed with Davy Lee (Sr., Tulsa, Okla.) to win a close doubles match, then rallied after being down a break in the third set to pick up a victory at No. 5 singles and give Navy a narrow 4-3 win over Lehigh, Saturday afternoon in Bethlehem, Pa.
"We played a very tough, very motivated Lehigh team today," said Navy head coach John Officer. "They came at us hard right from the start of the match.
"I was very pleased with our effort today. It was much improved."
Navy won a pair of close doubles matches to win the doubles point for the third time in as many Patriot League matches. Stanley Kahl (So., Richland, Pa.) and Nathan Malnati (So., Greeley, Colo.) combined to post an 8-5 victory over John Nespoli and Andrew Shapiro at No. 3 doubles, then Lai and Lee rallied from a 5-1 deficit to Ryan Lloyd and Brad Nelson to record a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles.
After Kahl (6-3, 6-2, at No. 3) and Dodson (6-4, 6-4 at No. 4) posted straight set singles victories for Navy, Lai clinched the team victory for the Mids with a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win over Nelson at No. 5 singles. Nelson broke Lai's serve to go up 3-2 in the third set, then held his own serve to take a 4-2 lead. Nelson had a pair of break point opportunities in the next game to go up 5-2, but Lai held serve to cut the deficit to 4-3 and closed out the match by winning the final three games.
Lai has now won three of his last four singles matches, with two of those wins coming in three sets.
"I think the key today was when push came to shove at really big points in the matches, we played very well," said Officer. "In addition to Adrian, Haley and Stanley also played very well today, with Kahl winning in both singles and doubles and Dodson coming back after being down a break in both of his sets to win in singles."
The victory improves Navy's Patriot League record to 2-1 and its overall mark to 10-9 heading into a Sunday afternoon match at Army. The Black Knights, ranked 67th in the nation this week, suffered a 4-3 loss to American Saturday. The match is slated to begin at 1 p.m. in West Point.
Navy (10-9, 2-1) def. Lehigh (6-9, 0-2), 4-3
Doubles
1 - Esler/Smalley (L) def. Carter/James, 8-4
2 - Lai/Lee (N) def. Lloyd/Nelson, 9-7
3 - Kahl/Malnati (N) def. Nespoli/Shapiro
Singles
1 - Ty Esler (L) def. Brandon Carter, 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-1
2 - Randall Smalley (L) def. Davy Lee, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
3 - Stanley Kahl (N) def. Ryan Lloyd, 6-3, 6-2
4 - Haley Dodson (N) def. Alfredo Fernandez-Concha, 6-4, 6-4
5 - Adrian Lai (N) def. Brad Nelson, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
6 - John Nespoli (L) def. Alex James, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
