Bottom of Order Pushes Men’s Tennis over Bucknell

Saturday, April 30

Bethlehem, Pa.

2 PM

Army West Point

Bucknell

Bottom of Order Pushes Men’s Tennis over Bucknell

April 30, 2016 | Men's Tennis

Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The second-seeded Army West Point men's tennis team will be playing in the Patriot League Championship after defeating sixth-seeded Bucknell 4-2 on Saturday. The Black Knights, who are now 17-8 this spring, will face top-seeded Navy in the championship match for the third straight season.

Army was able to secure the first point of the match against the Bison while only dropping a single set across the two complete doubles matches. Junior Kyle Barnes and senior Austin McCasin won 6-1 in the second flight while junior Sam Lampman and sophomore Michael Nguyen won 6-0 in the third flight.

The bottom of the singles line-up proved to be incredibly important for the Cadets today. After Lampman was defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the top flight against the two-time defending Patriot League Player of the Year Nick Bybel, Nguyen won 6-4, 6-2 in the fourth singles flight while junior Grant Riechmann fell in the second singles slot narrowly, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to put the match in a deadlock at 2-2.

A rookie and a veteran would carry the Black Knights to the victory. Senior Harrison McCormick overcame a first set 6-4 loss to win the last two sets 7-5, 6-3 in the sixth singles position. Freshman David Mitchell had to fight through a similar situation. He lost the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5). Mitchell finished incredibly strong to give Army the victory, dropping only one point over the final two frames.

The Black Knights and Midshipmen are set to face each other just eight days after the annual Star Match. The Mids won that contest 4-2 and took the championship match last year by a score of 4-1. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

For up-to-date information on Army men's tennis visit GoArmyWestPoint.com or follow @ArmyWP_MTennis on Twitter.