WINCHESTER, Mass. – Opening Patriot League play, the Boston University men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought 4-2 decision to defending conference champion Navy on Sunday afternoon at the Winchester Tennis Club.

The Midshipmen (12-17, 1-0 PL) captured the doubles point with wins at lines 1 and 3 by a combined score for 12-7 for the first point and then claimed three singles points, including two in three-set battles, to hold off the Terriers (8-10, 0-1 PL).

During singles play, freshman Corey Craig rolled to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the No. 2 slot against 2022 All-PL honoree Gavin Segraves. Sophomore Cole Knutsen pulled out a hard-fought first set and then coasted in the second to a 7-6(2), 6-1 win at line 4. Junior Ben Letzer also won his first set in a tiebreaker and was set to compete in a second when his match was halted with a 7-6(5), 6-6 lead. 

Navy earned its first singles point with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court 1 against sophomore Dion Loutas. The Midshipmen then rallied from a set down to defeat both freshman Alejandro Licea (0-6, 6-2, 6-4) and junior Jonah Dickson (4-6, 6-0, 6-4) in the No. 3 and 5 slots, respectively, to seal the team win.

Overall, BU won 67 total singles games after totaling 39 last season against Navy. The Terriers will next head to Hamilton, New York, to face Bucknell on Saturday (April 1) at 10 a.m. and then host Colgate on Sunday (April 2) at 11 a.m.

Navy - 4, Boston University - 2

SINGLES
1) Sasha Panyan (Navy) def. Dion Loutas (BU): 6-4, 6-3
2) Corey Craig (BU) def. Gavin Segraves (Navy): 6-3, 6-4
3) Luke Garner (Navy) def. Alejandro Licea (BU): 0-6, 6-2, 6-4
4) Cole Knutsen (BU) def. Nicholas Nguyen (Navy): 7-6(2), 6-1
5) Aniketh Ayinala (Navy) def. Jonah Dickson (BU): 4-6, 6-0, 6-4
6) Ben Letzer (BU) led Nathan Nguyen (Navy): 7-6(5), 6-6

DOUBLES
1) Garner/Panyan (Navy) def. Licea/Loutas (BU): 6-3
2) Nicholas Nguyen/Segraves (Navy) led Dickson/Knutsen (BU): 5-3
3) Nathan Nguyen/Ayinala (Navy) def. Adrian Pawlowski / Johann Sajonz (BU): 6-3