Navy Rallies For 4-3 Victory Over Delaware

March 9, 2012

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- For the fourth time this year, the Navy women's tennis team rallied for a 4-3 victory after dropping the doubles point, this time coming Friday against a good Delaware team. The Midshipmen improved to 12-1 overall while handing the Blue Hens their first loss of the season, now with a 3-1 record.

"This was another great comeback win for us. Delaware made us fight for everything but I was pleased with the way we held our ground and kept our resolve," said Navy head coach Keith Puryear. "This was a great team win. We have two tough matches next week in Florida, so it was good to tough one out today."

Navy dropped the first two completed doubles matches to lose the doubles point and fall behind, 1-0. The Mids' lone win in doubles play came from the duo of Erin Snook (So. / Tampa, Fla.) and Noelle Kaufmann (Fr. / Westlake, Ohio) at No. 2 doubles, 8-6.

Navy then rallied in singles action by winning four-of-six matches. Kaufmann got the ball rolling for the Mids with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles for her second victory of the day and to tie the match at 1-1.

Delaware then won the next two finished matches at Nos. 2 and 3 singles to take a 3-1 match lead and push Navy to the brink of defeat.

But the Midshipmen countered and trimmed the lead to 3-2 when freshman Gabby Winter (Orlando, Fla.) was victorious at No. 5 singles with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 triumph for her team-leading 16th win of the season.

Navy then tied the match at 3-3 when Snook won her second match of the day in a 6-0, 7-5 victory at No. 4 singles. Snook tied a school record with her ninth straight victory and is now 10-1 in dual-meet action this spring.

Sophomore Darien Sears (Silver Spring, Md.) then closed out the Navy victory with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles to give Navy the thrilling 4-3 victory. Sears improved to 8-3 in dual-meet action this spring.

"We had a lot of solid efforts today. Noelle played a very solid match at No. 6 singles. Gabby had lost a couple of three-set matches in the past, but came up big today. Erin played a great first set and really hung tough to close out the match in straight sets," said Puryear. "Lastly, I was really impressed with Darien at No. 1 singles. She lost the first, competed like crazy to tough it out in the second set and finished with a fury in the third."

Navy will battle Quinnipiac on Tuesday at 8:00 am and Long Island on Wednesday at 2:30 pm in Orlando, Fla.

NAVY 4, DELAWARE 3
Doubles Results (order: 3,1,2)
1) Carnall / Sunstrom (Del.) d. Decquir / Ton (Navy), 8-6
2) Kaufmann / Snook (Navy) d. Fein more / Safron (Del.), 8-6
3) Harrington / Milla (Del.) d. Das / Sears (Navy), 8-4

Singles Results (order: 6,2,3,5,4,1)
1) Darien Sears (Navy) d. Dorothy Safron (Del.), 2-6, 7-5, 6-1
2) Samantha Carnall (Del.) d. Emani Decquir (Navy), 6-3, 6-4
3) Courtney Fein more (Del.) d. Stefanie Ton (Navy), 6-2, 6-3
4) Erin Snook (Navy) d. Sophie Sunstrom (Del.), 6-0, 7-5
5) Gabby Winter (Navy) d. Olivia Heim (Del.), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
6) Noelle Kaufmann (Navy) d. Amanda Halstrom (Del.), 6-2, 6-0

# GO NAVY #

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