March 31, 2018

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy women's tennis team (20-5, 1-1 PL) blanked rival Army West Point (15-6, 3-1 PL), 7-0, in the 2018 Army-Navy Women's Tennis Star Match on Saturday at the Brigade Sports Complex. Navy has now won eight-straight matches and 16 of its last 17.

"It feels great for our program to get the N-Star," said Navy head coach Keith Puryear. "The support from our fans today went a long way in helping to secure the match. The atmosphere here today was electric. It was great to be a part of it."

Navy won the doubles point, 2-1, and then won all six singles matches.

Sophomore Emily Louie-Meadors and senior Claudia Mackenzie won the first doubles match, taking a 6-4 victory over Army's Genevieve McCormick and Danna Funaro at the No. 2 court.

Louie-Meadors and Mackenzie improved to 18-5 in doubles matches this season.

Army then evened the doubles competition at 1-1 when Kirby Einck and Sasha Inchauste defeated Navy's Amanda Cyr and Catalina Rico, 7-6 (8-6) at the No. 3 position.

With the doubles point on the line, senior Amanda Keller and sophomore Kaylah Hodge rallied back from down 5-3 to take a 7-6 (7-4) win at the No. 1 court over Ana Joyner and Melanie Allen to give the Mids a 1-0 lead in the match.

Keller and Hodge improved to a team-best 20-6 in doubles play this season.

"The doubles came down to the wire," said Puryear. "Amanda and Kaylah were down 5-3 and they just clawed their way back and were able to close it out for us. Both teams understood the importance of the doubles point. We did a good job of doing what we've done all year long in doubles and that is just fighting and going after things, and making things uncomfortable for our opponents."

Junior Josie Rogers opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over McCormick at the No. 3 position to put Navy ahead at 2-0.

Rogers won her 11th-straight singles match, which is the fourth-longest singles winning streak in program history.

Senior Carlee Conway put Navy ahead 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Inchauste at No. 5 singles.

Louie-Meadors then clinched the N-Star victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Allen at the No. 2 position.

Conway and Louie-Meadors both improved to 19-8 in singles play this season.

After the Star Match was clinched by Navy, Hodge finished a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles over Funaro, Keller defeated Joyner at No. 1 singles in a very close match, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), and sophomore Ansofi Wreder rallied to defeat Einck at No. 4 singles, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4), for the 7-0 win.

"I really liked what we did in the singles," said Puryear. "We came out with some intensity and tried to take matters into our own hands. We won the first set on five of the six courts. That's huge in terms of momentum and keeping the pressure on them."

With her singles and doubles wins on Saturday, Keller became Navy's all-time leader in career combined singles and doubles wins with 152. Keller moved past 2014 graduate Erin Snook, who had 151 career combined singles and doubles wins.

Keller, Louie-Meadors and Hodge each won in both singles and doubles on Saturday.

Army leads the all-time series against Navy, 8-3, and is 4-2 in Star Matches. Navy's only other Star Match win was in 2015.

"It was a lot closer than the final score indicated today," said Puryear. "I give Army credit. They continued to fight and they fought down to the last ball. But we weren't to be denied today."

The women's tennis Star Match is a part of the overall Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. Army leads the overall Star Series, 9-7-2, with six remaining Star contests.

Navy will next host Lehigh on Saturday, April 7, and then Bucknell and Colgate in a doubleheader on Sunday, April 8.

Navy def. Army West Point, 7-0Doubles - Navy wins the doubles point, 2-1 (Order of finish: 2,3,1)No. 1 Amanda Keller / Kaylah Hodge (Navy) def. Ana Joyner / Melanie Allen (Army), 7-6 (7-4)No. 2 Emily Louie-Meadors / Claudia Mackenzie (Navy) def. Genevieve McCormick / Danna Funaro (Army), 6-4No. 3 Kirby Einck / Sasha Inchauste (Army) def. Amanda Cyr / Catalina Rico (Navy), 7-6 (8-6)
Singles (Order of finish: 3,5,2,6,1,4)No. 1 Amanda Keller (Navy) def. Ana Joyner (Army), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5)No. 2 Emily Louie-Meadors (Navy) def. Melanie Allen (Army), 6-4, 6-2No. 3 Josie Rogers (Navy) def. Genevieve McCormick (Army), 6-1, 6-1No. 4 Ansofi Wreder (Navy) def. Kirby Einck (Army), 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4)No. 5 Carlee Conway (Navy) def. Sasha Inchauste (Army), 6-1, 6-1No. 6 Kaylah Hodge (Navy) def. Danna Funaro (Army), 6-4, 6-3