Navy Men Earn Men's Tennis Star Victory

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Luke Garner and Jake Young first rallied for a 7-5 victory at No. 1 doubles and then each won straight-set singles matches during a 4-0 victory by the Navy men's tennis team over Army, Saturday afternoon at the Lichtenberg Tennis Center in West Point, N.Y. 

The match was the annual Star Match between the teams, which is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.

Navy has now won the last 11 overall matches in the series as well as nine-straight Star Matches.

The Mids won a pair of doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead. Navy's No. 3 team of Aniketh Ayinala and Jason Kim won the first two games and built a 5-1 lead on Vishnu Bodavula and Alan Ton before winning, 6-3.

"Jason and Aniketh played really well to get us on the board in doubles," said Navy head coach Chris Garner.

Garner and Young also took an early 3-1 lead over Jack Hanna and Marcus Sebastian in the match at No. 1 doubles. The Mids then held a 4-2 lead before the Black Knights won the ensuing three games to take a 5-4 advantage. Navy held serve, broke Army and held serve to win the match, 7-5, and secure the doubles point.

The last match left on the courts at No. 2 doubles between the Navy team of Herrick Legaspi and Charlie Spencer and the Army tandem of Jackson Armistead and Daniel Choi was tied at 6-6 when play was halted. The Mids held leads of 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5, but were unable to break the serve of the Black Knights over the remainder of the frame.

"The matches at one and two were going right down to the wire," said Garner. "Luke and Jake teamed up well to get the break and then close out the match."

Winning the doubles point meant Navy needed to win three of the six singles matches to win the overall dual and Army had to win four matches. Navy had a great start as it won the first set in four of the flights.

Garner posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Hanna at No. 3 singles to make the score 2-0. Young soon followed with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Bodavula at the No. 4 flight. Within minutes of the Mids taking the 3-0 lead, Etterbeek notched a 6-3, 6-3 win over Choi at No. 5 singles to close play.

Legaspi won the first set of his No. 1 singles match against Armistead, 6-3, but lost the second, 6-4. The third set between the players had not started when Etterbeek's match ended.

Nathan Nguyen lost the first set to Ton at No. 2 singles, 6-1, but forced a third set with a 7-5 win in set number two. Ton had won the first game of the third set when play was stopped.

Ayinala also lost the first set of his match at No. 6 singles to Davis McDonald by the count of 6-4. He bounced back to claim the second set, 6-1. McDonald was leading 1-0 in the third set when the overall match concluded.

"Nathan clawed his way back in the second set to even his match while Aniketh also made a strong comeback after he dropped the first set," said Garner. "Herrick was in a back-and-forth match. It was Luke, Jake and J.J. who finished within 10 minutes of each other that brought home the four points. All three played very well to get the wins."

Both teams now head to the Lewisburg, Pa., for the Patriot League Tournament which begins Thursday with a single first-round match and continues Friday with four semifinal round matches. Seedings and pairings for the event which runs through Sunday will be announced Tuesday. 

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

Singles (3-4-5)
1. Armistead, Jackson (ARMY) vs. Legaspi, Herrick, 3-6, 6-4, unfinished
2. Ton, Alan (ARMY) vs. Nguyen, Nathan, 6-1, 5-7, 1-0, unfinished
3. Garner, Luke (NAVY) def. Hanna, Jack, 6-2, 6-3
4. Young, Jake (NAVY) def. Bodavula, Vishnu, 6-3, 7-5
5. Etterbeek, J.J. (NAVY) def. Choi, Daniel, 6-3, 6-3
6. McDonald, Davis (ARMY) vs. Ayinala, Aniketh, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0, unfinished