ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis freshman Teodors Pukse won in both singles and doubles as the Knights fell on the road at Navy by a 5-2 decision.
 
The Knights (0-3) won one of three close doubles matches and then put forth a strong effort in singles despite dropping four of the six bouts, with three different matches ending in a tiebreaker and two more requiring a supertiebreaker.
 
Pukse continued his strong start to his freshman campaign by teaming up with redshirt sophomore Niclas Pietsch at first doubles for a 6-4 win and also defeating Finn Garner at the no. 1 singles spot in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) match. Pukse is now 3-0 in his first three singles dual matches at the top spot in the FDU lineup.
 
Sophomore Mehdi Dhouib picked up FDU's second point with a win at no. 2 singles. Dhouib won his first set against Jan Kjellberg 7-5 but dropped the next one 4-6 to set up a supertiebreaker. Dhouib then cruised past his opponent 10-4 in the tiebreak to win the match.
 
Pietsch, senior Ivan Solans Diaz and junior Andris Gudins all dropped close singles battles at the three, four and five positions, respectively. Pietsch challenged Reilly Wilson to a three-set duel, with both players splitting the first two sets by 7-5 scores to force a supertiebreaker. Pietsch then kept fighting to the end but could not prevent his opponent from taking the point in a 6-10 result.
 
Solans Diaz dropped his first set to Romesh Kahatapitiya, 1-6, but then fought hard to stay in the match with a valiant second-set effort that fell just short, 6-7 (5). Gudins played a similar match against Conners O'Brien, dropping his second set by tiebreak as well, 6-7 (2).
 
Both FDU second and third doubles pairs fell by identical 5-7 scores, with Dhouib and Gudins manning the second spot while Solans Diaz partnered with junior Moric Budinszky at the third position.
 
The Knights take a few days off before returning to action at Concordia (N.Y.) on Wednesday, February 12, for a 2 p.m. match.
 
BOX SCORE
 
DOUBLES
Teodors Pukse/Niclas Pietsch (FDU) def. Finn Garner/Reilly Wilson (NAVY), 6-4
Romesh Kahatapitiya/Jan Kjellberg (NAVY) def. Mehdi Dhouib/Andris Gudins (FDU), 7-5
Andrees Ballesteros/Matthew Lee (NAVY) def. Ivan Solans Diaz/Moric Budinszky (FDU), 7-5
 
SINGLES
Pukse (FDU) def. Garner (NAVY), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Dhouib (FDU) def. Kjellberg (NAVY), 7-5, 4-6, 10-4
Wilson (NAVY) def. Pietsch (FDU), 7-5, 5-7, 10-6
Kahatapitiya (NAVY) def. Solans Diaz (FDU), 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Conners O'Brien (NAVY) def. Gudins (FDU), 6-1, 7-6 (2)
Lee (NAVY) def. Budinszky (FDU), 6-4, 6-0