Men's Tennis Claims First Patriot League Title in 4-3 Thriller over Five-Time Defending Champ Navy

Sunday, April 28

West Point, NY

12 PM

Boston University

Navy (PL Final)

Men's Tennis Claims First Patriot League Title in 4-3 Thriller over Five-Time Defending Champ Navy

April 28, 2024 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Results Corey Craig & Jakob Esterowitz Postmatch Watch Replay

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Competing in a thriller that lasted nearly four hours, the top-seeded Boston University men's tennis team captured its first Patriot League title with a 4-3 victory over five-time defending champion Navy Sunday afternoon at Army West Point's Malek Stadium.

Thanks to sophomore Jakob Esterowitz clinching the championship in a 7-3 third-set tiebreaker for their fifth one-point win of the season, the Terriers (21-7) hoisted their seventh overall conference trophy and first since winning the America East tournament in 1996. By becoming the first PL squad to defeat both Army (14x champs) and Navy (15x champs) in the same tournament since American accomplished the feat in 2004, BU also captured its first-ever automatic NCAA bid.

The Midshipmen (28-15) won two tiebreakers in doubles action to grab the early 1-0 lead and later added two singles points, but the Terriers triumphed in the other four singles matches, including two in successful three-set rallies, to claim the team victory. Sophomore Corey Craig was named PL Tournament MVP after posting a perfect 3-0 record at No. 1 singles by winning 36 of 45 games played.

Senior Jonah Dickson and junior Adrian Pawlowski started the day off posting a 6-4 victory over Navy at No. 3 doubles. The Midshipmen though were able to prevail in the other two contests, first breaking Craig and classmate Alejandro Licea late en route to a 7-6(1) win on court 1.

In the No. 3 slot, Esterowitz and senior Johann Sajonz served for the doubles point with a 5-3 lead, but Navy broke back again to send a second match to a tiebreaker. Facing a 6-0 deficit, the BU duo won the next four points before coming up short, 7-6(4). All three Terriers who suffered heartbreak in doubles action would bounce back victoriously during singles play to help BU mount the rally.

Craig put BU on the scoreboard with a dominating 6-0, 6-4 victory against 2023 PL Player of the Year Sasha Panyan on court 1, and Navy retook the lead in a 6-1, 6-2 decision at line 6. The two squads then split the next two contests, as Licea rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win at line 3 and the Mids rallied for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory on court 5.

Navy's Steve Nguyen broke late to win the first set in the No. 4 slot, but freshman Gustavs Dambins responded by winning 12 of the next 16 games for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory to put all of the focus on court 2.

In a contest lasting 2:46, Esterowitz only won two games in the first set against Herrick Legaspi. However, he changed his strategy and would rally to win back-to-back tiebreakers for the thrilling 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) victory. Legaspi broke Esterowitz facing a 5-3 deficit in the third set and later jumped out to a 3-0 advantage, but Esterowitz claimed seven straight points to prompt a leaping dogpile in the middle of the court.

After improving to 1-5 all-time against Navy in the PL tournament under head coach Dejan Stankovic and assistant coach Jesse Frieder, BU will learn its NCAA first round destination Monday (April 29) at 6 p.m. on NCAA.com.

2024 PATRIOT LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 1 Boston University - 4, No. 2 Navy - 3

SINGLES (Order of Finish: 1, 6, 3, 5, 4, 2)
1) Corey Craig (BU) def. Sasha Panyan (Navy): 6-0, 6-4
2) Jakob Esterowitz (BU) def Herrick Legaspi (Navy): 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3)
3) Alejandro Licea (BU) def. Luke Garner (Navy): 6-2, 6-3
4) Gustavs Dambins (BU) def. Steve Nguyen (Navy): 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
5) Jeffery Etterbeek (Navy) def. Dion Loutas (BU): 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
6) Aniketh Ayinala (Navy) def. Ben Letzer (BU): 6-1, 6-2

DOUBLES (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1)
1) Garner/Panyan (Navy) def. Craig/Licea (BU): 7-6(1)
2) Jeffrey Etterbeek/Aniketh Ayinala (Navy) def. Esterowitz / Johann Sajonz (BU): 7-6(4)
3) Jonah Dickson / Adrian Pawlowski (BU) def. Nathan Nguyen/Legaspi (Navy): 6-4

2024 PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Thursday, April 25 – First Round
No. 8 Holy Cross def. No. 9 Lafayette, 4-1

Friday, April 26 – Quarterfinals
No. 1 Boston U. def. No. 8 Holy Cross, 4-0
No. 4 Army def. No. 5 Lehigh, 4-2
No. 3 Bucknell def. No. 6 Colgate, 4-0
No. 2 Navy def. No. 7 Loyola, 4-0

Saturday, April 27 – Semifinals
No. 1 Boston U. def. No. 4 Army, 4-0
No. 2 Navy def. No. 3 Bucknell, 4-2

Sunday, April 28 – Championship
No. 1 Boston U. def. No. 2 Navy, 4-3