A troubling start to the season continued as the men’s tennis team lost to Navy 7-0. The Wildcats won only one match against the Midshipmen on Saturday in Annapolis, Md.

Villanova (0-2) had a chance to take the doubles point, but narrowly lost in all three sets. Navy seniors, Nate Nelms and Johnny Waters, beat junior Alex Leeser and sophomore David Shaheen 8-5. The Midshipmen then clinched the doubles point in a competitive match between Navy’s sophomore Nick Birger and senior Jason Hill and Villanova’s freshmen Alex Hanno and Mike Taylor, winning 8-6.

Navy then went on to control the singles, winning three straight-set matches and winning two in the tie breakers to record the overall victory. No. 4 singles proved the most dominating as Navy’s junior Ramsey Lemaich beat Villanova’s sophomore Trenton Alenik 6-0, 6-1. Alenik struggled last week as well, losing 6-0 in both sets. Nelms also won in straight sets, beating Leeser 6-4, 6-1, and Hill did the same, beating Shaheen 6-3, 6-3. Leeser and Sheheen also lost tough matches last week, though they were slightly more competitive.

Senior Brian Maher and Taylor took Navy freshman Marcus Rebersak and sophomore Owen Bullard, respectively, to tiebreakers, but could not pull out the victory. The lone victory for Villanova came when Hanno beat freshman Zach Nicholson 6-2, 6-3.

Last year, Villanova lost to Navy 6-1, as well. Only Alenik won for Villanova, beating Lemaich in a third-set tiebreaker. But this year, Lemaich got revenge.

The men’s tennis team hopes to get a victory, however, when they travel to College Park, Md., on Feb. 21.

Water Polo

The women’s water polo team could not pull it together for the Princeton Invitational, losing to both Bucknell 17-3 and Princeton 14-0 on Feb. 7-8. The tournament in Princeton, N.J. opened up the ’09 season, so there is still time to recover from the two losses.

Bucknell was ‘Nova’s first competitor of the afternoon at the DeNunzio Pool. Villanova was able to find the net once in the first half, but Bucknell, who already had two wins, outscored the ‘Cats 8-1 in the first half. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Villanova saw some action on its half of the scoreboard, scoring two final goals before the final whistle of the 17-3 loss.

Things didn’t look better for the Wildcats on the second day. The team couldn’t seem to pull it together offensively and went scoreless for the entire game. Princeton beat Villanova 14-0 – its first shutout in nine years.

Although this weekend wasn’t the most victorious opening for the water polo team, the women here have time to step up their game. The team will face Harvard, Brown and Maryland next weekend in the Princeton Invitational.