ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Old Dominion (8-4), the 48th-ranked team in the country, rallied from several deficits to edge the Navy men’s tennis team, 4-3, Sunday in Norfolk, Va. The Mids (17-7) additionally won a 7-0 decision over the District of Columbia (2-5) in Annapolis.
“The guys played really well in competing against a top-50 team today,” said Navy associate head coach John Moreland, who was with the team in Virginia.
The Mids won the first two doubles matches against the Monarchs to take a 1-0 lead. Sasha Panyan (So., Lutherville, Md.) and Gavin Segraves (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) posted a 6-3 win the No. 1 flight over Luca Maldoner and Yehven Sirous in the first match to be completed. Navy took the 1-0 lead when its No. 2 team of Jake Fishkin (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) and Derrick Thompson (Sr., Towson, Md.) recorded a 6-3 victory over Younes Lalami and Oliver Nolan.
The remaining match at No. 3 doubles was left unfinished with ODU’s Francois Le Tallec and Codie Van Schalkwyk leading Jack Dabek (Sr., Dublin, Ohio) and Jack McBride (Sr., Chapel Hill, N.C.), 5-4.
“Our doubles teams really set the tone for the match by picking up the wins at first and second doubles to give us the lead,” said Moreland.
Old Dominion evened the match at 1-1 when Maldoner defeated Segraves, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 2 singles. Navy regained the lead at 2-1 thanks to Panyan recording a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sirous at the No. 4 flight.
“Old Dominion put the pressure on us in singles,” said Moreland, “but Sasha did a good job getting the quick win to give the lead back to us.”
Back came the Monarchs with wins by Lalami over Fishkin, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 3 and Le Tallec, the 96th-ranked singles player in the country, over Thompson, 6-2, 6-3, at No. 1 singles, to give them a 3-2 advantage.
Navy tied the match at 3-3 when McBride defeated Van Schalkwyk, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 5 singles.
“Jack showed good determination after going down a break of serve in the second set to rally and win his match in straight sets,” said Moreland.
That left the No. 6 singles match between Dabek and Nolan to determine the outcome. Nolan won the first set by the score of 6-2, but Dabek earned the second-set victory by the score of 6-4. Nolan jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set on his way to winning, 6-2
“Jack came back from for three games down and a break of serve to clinch the second set and set up a third-set battle for the match,” said Moreland. “Nolan kept the pressure on in the third set. He broke Jack in the first game, then saved triple break point to take and early lead.
“Overall, Old Dominion played the big points really well and that was the difference in the match.”
Navy earned the doubles point against the District of Columbia, which competes on the NCAA Division II level. The Firebirds didn’t enter a No. 3 doubles team, which meant the Mids needed to win just one of the two matches to earn the point. Navy won both of them, with its No. 1 team of Finn Garner (Jr., Arnold, Md.) and Luke Garner (Fr., Arnold, Md.) winning by the score of 6-0. In the other match, Jan Kjellberg (Sr., White Plains, N.Y.) and Christian Pumpelly (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) combined for a 6-3 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Navy received its second point when UDC did not enter a player at the No. 6 position. It was a 3-0 lead for the Mids when Eric Liu (So., Canton, Mich.) posted a 6-0, 6-0 win at the No. 5 flight. A 6-1, 6-0 victory by Nicholas Nguyen (So., McLean, Va.) at No. 3 singles secured the overall match for Navy.
Also winning straight-set singles matches were, in order of finish, Finn Garner at No. 1, Cy McLeod (Fr., Augusta, Ga.) at No. 4 and Luke Garner at No. 2.
Navy is off from competition until facing Boston U. and James Madison on March 27.
Navy (17-6) 7, District of Columbia (2-5) 0
Doubles — Navy wins the doubles point (3-1-2)
1. Garner, Finn / Garner, Luke (NAVY) def. Estevez Hernandez, Juan / Mangeon, Louis (UDC) 6-0
2. Kjellberg, Jan / Pumpelly, Christian (NAVY) def. Bahdanovich, Maksim / Corty, Mauricio (UDC) 6-3
3. Ballesteros, Andres / Liu, Eric (NAVY) won by default
Singles (6-5-3-1-4-2)
1. Garner, Finn (NAVY) def. Mangeon, Louis (UDC) 6-1, 6-1
2. Garner, Luke (NAVY) def. Corty, Mauricio (UDC) 6-1, 6-4
3. Nguyen, Nicholas (NAVY) def. Estevez Hernandez, Juan (UDC) 6-1, 6-0
4. McLeod, Cy (NAVY) def. Bahdanovich, Maksim (UDC) 6-4, 6-1
5. Liu, Eric (NAVY) def. Bedford, Jake (UDC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Ballesteros, Andres (Navy) won by default
#48 Old Dominion (8-4) 4, Navy (17-7) 3
Doubles — Navy wins the doubles point (1-2)
1. Panyan, Sasha / Segraves, Gavin (NAVY) def. Maldomer, Luca / Sirous, Yevhen (ODU) 6-3
2. Fishkin, Jake / Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) def. Lalami, Younes / Nolan, Oliver (ODU) 6-3
3. Le Tallec, Francois / VanSchalkwyk, Codie (ODU) vs. Dabek, Jack / McBride, Jack (NAVY) 5-4, unfinished
Singles (2-4-3-1-5-6)
1. #96 Le Tallec, Francois (ODU) def. Thompson, Derrick (NAVY) 6-2, 6-3
2. Maldomer, Luca (ODU) def. Segraves, Gavin (NAVY) 6-3, 6-2
3. Lalami, Younes (ODU) def. Fishkin, Jake (NAVY) 6-2, 6-3
4. Panyan, Sasha (NAVY) def. Sirous, Yevhen (ODU) 6-2, 6-0
5. McBride, Jack (NAVY) def. VanSchalkwyk, Codie (ODU) 7-5, 6-3
6. Nolan, Oliver (ODU) def. Dabek, Jack (NAVY) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
