Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Lehigh
Men's Tennis Wins Patriot League Championship
April 17, 2011 | Men's Tennis
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Army men's tennis defeated Lehigh, 4-2, on Sunday afternoon at Lehigh's Lewis Tennis Center to win the 2011 Patriot League Championship. The conference title is the Black Knights' first since 2006 and tenth overall.
Army (13-11, 6-0) went ahead 1-0 after winning the doubles the point. Troy List and Collin Laffey of Lehigh (15-7, 4-2) defeated Army's Donald Van Velzer and Tripp Johnson, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles before the Black Knights swept the final two matches.
Sophomores Gary Kushnirovic and Alex Holland bounced back from a loss the previous day to top Matt Savran and Andrew Krentz, 8-5, at No. 2. The win was Holland's 15th of the season.
Army's freshman duo Asika Isoh and Henry Jang-Milsten clinched the doubles point by defeating Mark Goldberg and Ryan Krueger, 9-8, at the No. 3 spot. The pair went 2-0 in Patriot League Championship doubles matches.
The Mountain Hawks evened the score, 1-1, as Goldberg defeated Johnson, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4 singles. Lehigh's Savran followed at No. 3 singles with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Army's Van Velzer.
The Black Knights rebounded in impressive fashion, winning the next three singles contests to seal the match.
Kushnirovic got the ball rolling with a three-set win at No. 2 against Laffey. The Army sophomore lost the first set before coming back to win the point, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native had an impressive spring, battling back from wrist surgery in the fall to earn a 9-2 record.
Isoh ended his longest losing streak of the dual season (three matches) just in time, defeating Troy List in three sets, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, to give Army its first lead since winning the doubles point, 3-2. The win was Isoh's team-leading 17th of the season.
In need of one more point to clinch the match, once again Army turned to Alex Holland at the No. 5 position. Just over a week removed from clinching Army's Star Match win over Navy, 4-3, the sophomore found himself in a similar predicament Sunday afternoon. The Spartanburg, S.C., native won the first set, 6-3, against Ryan Krueger, before facing a tougher battle in the second. Holland would prevail in dramatic fashion once again, winning the second set, 7-5, to clinch the league title for Army.
Holland went 7-0 against Patriot League opponents this spring, including two wins over Krueger.
Following the match, Kushnirovic and Isoh were named co-recipients of the Joe Abrahamson Tournament MVP honor.
Army improved to 39-2 all-time against Lehigh and stretched its current win streak against the Mountain Hawks to 28 matches.
With the win, Army earned the Patriot League's automatic berth into the 2011 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. The NCAA will announce the 64-team draw on Tuesday, May 3 at 5:30 p.m., live via NCAA.com. The Black Knights will be making their fifth trip to the national stage, most recently falling to the University of Virginia, 4-0, in the 2006 NCAAs.
This is Army's tenth Patriot League title and seventh since the conference changed to a team format in 1994. The Black Knights also won in 2006, 2005, 2001, 2000, 1995 and 1994, earning NCAA Championship bids in 2006, 2005, 2001 and 2000. Prior to the team format, Army took first in the conference's individually-flighted tournament in 1990, 1992 and 1993.
Army 4
Lehigh 2
Doubles
1. List/Laffey (L) def. Van Velzer/Johnson (A) 8-5
2. Kushnirovich/Holland (A) def. Savran/Krentz (L) 8-5
3. Isoh/Jang-Milsten (A) def. Goldberg/Krueger (L) 9-8
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. Asika Isoh (A) def. Troy List (L) 6-7, 7-5, 6-4
2. Gary Kushnirovich (A) def. Collin Laffey (L) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
3. Matt Savran (L) def. Donald Van Velzer (A) 6-4, 6-4
4. Mark Goldberg (L) def. Tripp Johnson (A) 6-4, 6-3
5. Alex Holland (A) def. Ryan Krueger (L) 6-3, 7-5
6. Henry Jang-Milsten (A) vs. Andrew Krentz (L) 6-4, 3-3, DNF
Order of Finish: 4, 3, 2, 1, 5
Players Mentioned
