Mountain Hawks visit Navy Sunday in league opener
Posted: 03/30/2012
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh begins Patriot League play this weekend when it travels to Navy on Sunday for an afternoon showdown with the Midshipmen. The Mountain Hawks will look to win their second consecutive league opener as they battle the Mids in a rematch of last year’s epic Patriot League semifinal won by the Brown and White 4-3.
Lehigh had a strong finish to its non-league portion of the schedule. The Mountain Hawks defeated Loyola (Md.), 6-1, last weekend and improved to 8-5 on the season. The team won two of three doubles matches and five of six singles matches in a near-dominant effort. Freshman Ben Gilman won his eleventh consecutive singles match while fellow freshman Mitchell Petersen won his fourth in a row. Junior Matt Savran, sophomore Timur Chernykh, and freshman DJ Goldblum also won their singles matches. It marked the fourth time this season that at least five Mountain Hawks won their singles matches.
Navy (13-7, 2-0 PL) has already played two league matches and won both including a dominant 7-0 victory over Colgate in its league opener, plus a 4-3 win over Bucknell. The Midshipmen are coming off a 4-3 setback to Richmond but have won six of their last nine matches overall. Navy will host Lafayette on Saturday before the Mountain Hawks visit on Sunday.
Lehigh defeated Navy twice last season, including a 4-3 win in last year’s Patriot League semifinals that propelled the Mountain Hawks into the Patriot League finals for the first time in school history. Andrew Krentz won a third set tiebreak at No. 6 singles for the deciding point.
The Mountain Hawks have lost three straight on the road and will be seeking their first road victory since last year’s regular season finale when they won at Colgate.
Saturday’s match will begin at 2:30 p.m. from Annapolis, Md. Lehigh will host Colgate on Saturday April 7 in its league home-opener.