Navy Women's Tennis Ends Season in Patriot League Semifinals

April 17, 2010

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- Freshman Dye Das won at No. 4 singles, but it was the only victory for the Navy women's tennis team as it suffered a 4-1 setback to Bucknell in Saturday's Patriot League semifinals. The loss ends Navy's inaugural season at 13-4, one match shy of the Patriot League finals.

Bucknell will now play Army on Sunday for the right to be the Patriot League's representative in the NCAA Tournament.

"We fought hard and we couldn't have asked more of the ladies," said Navy head coach Keith Puryear. "Bucknell is a good team that just played a little better than we did. We have nothing to be ashamed of.

"We exceeded everyone's expectations this year. If you would have told me that we would have gone 13-4, we would have taken that in a heartbeat. We had a great year," added Puryear.

Despite leading at No. 2 doubles, the Mids lost the doubles point after falling at Nos. 1 and 3. The loss forced Navy to win four-of-six singles matches to advance to the finals.

Navy briefly tied the match at 1-1 when Das' singles match was the first to end with a 6-1, 6-4, victory over Carlin Calcaterra at No. 4 singles. The win gave Das her team-best 15th win of the season and she ended her plebe season with a 15-7 overall record.

Navy's momentum, however, was quickly squashed as Bucknell's Lauren Lucido defeated Brittney Boucher, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 singles to regain the lead for the Bison. Tania Varela and Lauren Rotkamp also gained victories at No. 1 and No. 6 to help Bucknell to the victory.

Navy will return all but one regular (Julie Dias in doubles) for next year's lineup and will be aided by transfer Amanda Griffin in the 2010-11 season. Four of Navy's six starters in singles play were freshmen.

"This year will go a long way to helping us understand what we need to do to be a better team," said Puryear. "Next year, we will continue to make steps. Every step and match is a learning experience, and what we gained this year was invaluable."

Doubles Results (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2 DNF)
1) Varela / Lucido (B) d. Decquir / Boucher (N), 8-2
2) Ton / Das (N) led Calcaterra / Casey (B), 7-3
3) Iepuras / Tuzhikova (B) d. Olsen / Dias (N), 8-2

Singles Results (Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1, 6, 3 and 5 DNF)
1) Tania Varela (B) d. Emani Decquir (N), 6-3, 6-1
2) Lauren Lucido (B) d. Brittney Boucher (N), 6-1, 6-3
3) Demi Iepuras (B) led Stefanie Ton (N), 3-6, 6-2, 4-2
4) Dye Das (N) d. Carlin Calcaterra (B), 6-1, 6-4
5) Dara Dwojewski (B) led Natalie Houle (N), 6-3, 1-1
6) Lauren Rotkamp (B) d. Lindsay Olsen (N), 6-2, 6-1

# GO NAVY #

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