ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's tennis team (2-1) started its home spring slate with back-to-back 6-1 wins against St. Francis and St. Bonaventure on Saturday at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
 
In each contest, the Mids won the first six matches en route to their first two wins of the season. Navy has now won their last nine matches at home dating back to last season. 
 
"It is good to be home and I was really pleased with how we came out in both matches," head coach Keith Puryear said after the doubleheader. "We started off a little slow in doubles and singles play was great. I think there were a lot of good takeaways for us today. There are some things that we can continue to focus on, but there are things that we are doing really, really well."
 
Navy 6, St. Francis 1
 
Needing just one doubles victory to capture the doubles point after St. Francis defaulted at No. 3 doubles, Tina Li (So., Wexford, Pa.) and Meghana Komarraju (Fr., Vienna, Va.) sealed the doubles point for the Midshipmen with a 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles against Stephanie Miller and Laura Gutierrez.
 
At No. 1 doubles, St Francis earned its first victory of the contest with Raksha Bode and Lucia Seigford grabbing a 6-4 win against Annalise Klopfer (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) and Kacey Moore (Fr., Wellington, Fla.).
 
Starting the singles portion of the dual with a 2-0 lead in the match following a victory default at No. 6 singles, Navy needed just two singles wins to secure the match. Kaylah Hodge (Jr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Aimee Dervishian (Jr., Milton, Ga.) rolled to straight-set wins dropping just one game apiece. Hodge beat Gutierrez at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-0, and Dervishian won by the same scoreline at No. 3 singles against Miller. 
 
With the match in hand, Ansofi Wreder (Jr., Miami, Fla.) pushed the Navy lead to 5-0 after winning the top-seeded singles match, 6-2, 6-0, against Seigford. 
 
The Midshipmen jumped ahead, 6-0, with captain Catalina Rico (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) grabbing a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles. In the final contest of match, the Red Flash spoiled the sweep with a three-set win at No. 5 singles. Danika Kahatapitiya (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) dropped a narrow three-set decision, 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8) to Romina Cutipa.
 
Navy 6, St. Bonaventure 1
 
Navy picked up where it left off in its second match of the day after sweeping all three doubles matches to grab a 1-0 lead overall. Hodge and Miranda Deng (So., North Potomac, Md.) won a 6-1 contest at No. 3 doubles against Buse Gunay and Paula Velilla. Rico and Amanda Cyr (So., Cary, N.C.) then partnered at No. 1 doubles and earned a 6-3 victory. The duo of Dervishian and Kahatapitiya completed the sweep after holding off Kahlei Reisinger and Emily Stanley in a 6-4 match. 
 
In singles, the Midshipmen continued their momentum from doubles and won five-straight singles matches. Klopfer rolled at No. 3 singles without dropping a game and defeated Andrea Roque, 6-0, 6-0. 
 
The freshmen continued to step up for Navy after Komarraju won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles to push the Midshipmen a victory away from clinching the match. With all six first sets going to Navy, Cyr clinched the win for Navy with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at the second-seeded singles contest. 
 
Over the final three matches, Navy won No. 5 and 6 singles in straight sets with Moore and Katreina Corpuz (Fr., Ewe Beach, Hawaii) earning their first collegiate dual victories in singles competition. The final match at No. 1 singles went to the Bonnies as they avoided the sweep in a three-set match. Deng won the opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (10-8), and then dropped a back-and-forth second set, 6-4. In the tiebreaking third set, Penelope Abreu outlasted Deng, 10-8, to spoil the sweep for the Midshipmen.
 
Navy hits the road next weekend for a contest at Richmond on Saturday at 4 p.m. and then returns home on Sunday to host Maryland at 1 p.m. on Sunday.