WEST POINT, N.Y. – After pulling out a tightly-contested doubles point in thrilling fashion, the top-seeded Boston University men's tennis team rolled to a 4-0 Patriot League semifinal victory at No. 4 Army West Point Saturday morning. The contest was held outdoors at Malek Stadium.

With their ninth straight victory, the Terriers improve to 20-7, while the Black Knights see their season ended at 13-15. BU won a pair of tiebreakers to grab the early 1-0 lead and then captured three singles points in straight sets to earn a Sunday morning match against five-time defending champion Navy, as head coach Dejan Stankovic reached the 100-win milestone.

Army suffered its first shutout PL tournament loss in 16 years since a 4-0 runner-up finish to Navy in 2008 and also failed to earn at least one point in the semifinals since a 4-0 defeat to American in 2002.

The Black Knights posted a 6-2 victory in the No. 3 doubles slot and held the lead in the tiebreaker in two other contests. Sophomore Jakob Esterowitz and senior Johann Sajonz faced a 5-3 deficit in their respective tiebreaker on court 2 before rallying back for the 7-6(5) win. Sophomores Corey Craig and Alejandro Licea overcame a 5-1 deficit by claiming six straight points.

In singles play, Esterowitz carried momentum from his thrilling doubles victory to a 6-0, 6-1 win at line 2 against the Black Knights. Freshman Gustavs Dambins cruised as well to a 6-1, 6-1 win on court 4 to extend BU's lead to 3-0.

Craig quickly thereafter clinched the team victory in the top slot with a 6-3, 6-1 win to improve to 25-1 in the spring. Licea, junior Dion Loutas and senior Ben Letzer had all won a set when their matches were halted.

BU will next face the No. 2 seeded Midshipmen, a 4-2 victor over No. 3 Bucknell, on Sunday (April 28) with an 11 a.m. start time. The Terriers are 0-5 all-time against Navy in the PL tournament following last year's 4-0 loss in the title match and will try to duplicate the efforts of a 4-2 road win from March 24.

2024 PATRIOT LEAGUE SEMIFINALS
#1 Boston University - 4, #4 Army West Point - 0

SINGLES
1) Corey Craig (BU) def. Jake Huarte (Army): 6-3, 6-1
2) Jakob Esterowitz (BU) def. Daniel Zhou (Army): 6-0, 6-1
3) Alejandro Licea (BU) led Samuel Haikal (Army): 7-6(5), 0-1, unfinished
4) Gustavs Dambins (BU) def. Vishnu Bodavula (Army): 6-1, 6-1
5) Dion Loutas (BU) tied with Marcus Sebastian (Army): 1-6, 6-3, unfinished
6) Ben Letzer (BU) led Alan Ton (Army): 6-4, 1-2, unfinished

DOUBLES
1) Craig/Licea (BU) def. Bodavula/Huarte (Army): 7-6(5)
2) Esterowitz / Johann Sajonz (BU) def. Sebastian/Ton (Army); 7-6(5)
3) Haikal/Michael Rooney (Army) def. Jonah Dickson / Adrian Pawlowski (BU): 6-2