LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Navy women's tennis team wrapped up the Liberty Invitational on Sunday as the event featured three sessions over the two days. Each player competed in a doubles match and a singles match in each session and throughout the weekend, the Midshipmen compiled 19 singles victories and 10 doubles wins.
The pair of
Samantha Choi (Fr., Warrenville, Ill.) and
Amanda Cyr (Jr., Cary, N.C.) led Navy in singles competition with each posting 3-0 records throughout the weekend. Choi partnered with
Tina Li (Jr., Wexford, Pa.) in doubles and they won both of their doubles contests.
Miranda Deng (Jr., North Potomac, Md.) and
Jillian Taggart (Fr., Fair Oaks, Calif.) were the only Navy pair to go 3-0 in doubles matches over the two days.
"It was a very positive weekend for our program," head coach
Keith Puryear said following the weekend. "All four teams were very close in level, which led to some very competitive play over the course of the weekend. Saturday's matches were played outdoor and Sunday's matches were played indoor on a much faster indoor surfaced, which meant we had to shift gears a bit tactically. I liked the adjustments we made throughout the weekend and I liked our competitiveness. We had to dig ourselves out of some tough situations in a few matches, which bodes well for our continued improvement."
Choi started her run in singles with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Campbell's Essence Martins and then defeated Martins' teammates Inma Ramon, 6-2, 7-5. In shortened matches on Sunday, Choi upended Liberty's Micaela Ode Mitre, 5-3, 4-1, to conclude her weekend. In doubles, Choi and Li competed twice on Saturday with an 8-5 win over Delaware's pair of Eliza Askarova and Viva Laas, which was followed by an 8-3 win over Kelly Lewis and Esther Lovato of Liberty. Li only notched one singles win in three tries, which came on Sunday in a 4-1, 4-0 contest against Lewis.
With four schools competing, Cyr notched a win over a player from each of three teams joining Navy at the event. The junior recorded her first win of the weekend against Liberty's Nasha Ghajar, 6-4, 6-1. Cyr then won a three-set match over Laas, 6-2, 3-6, 10-4, before sweeping the weekend with a 4-2, 4-2 victory against Campbell's Ciara O'Toole. Cyr teamed up with
Kaylah Hodge (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) in doubles and the pair dropped their first two contests of the weekend before taking down Lea Cutura and Lou Regen of Campbell in a 7-5 affair. Hodge started her weekend as an individual after leading Liberty's Caisey Lee Emery, 6-3, 3-0, before Emery retired. Over the final two matches of the weekend, Hodge was unable to pick up a set.
Deng and Taggart partnered for the Mids' lone 3-0 doubles mark over the two days. On Saturday, they picked up a pair of 8-2 wins over a pair of Campbell doubles teams. Deng and Taggart wrapped up the weekend with a 6-4 win over Askarova and Laas. In singles competition, Deng went 1-2 after retiring from her singles match on Sunday despite winning the first set. Taggart won in straight sets on Saturday over Campbell's Huda McGraw (6-0, 6-1) and Delaware's Caragh Courtney (6-4, 6-2). Taggart's attempt to sweep the weekend fell just short after falling in a pair of tiebreakers, 5-4 (7-3), 5-4 (7-3).
In singles,
Katreina Corpuz (So., Ewa Beach, Hawaii),
Kacey Moore (So., Wellington, Fla.) and
Irene Norman (Fr., Aurora, Ohio) all joined Taggart at 2-1. Corpuz alternated results over the three sessions, which was highlight by a pair of straight-set wins and her lone loss came in a third-set tiebreaker. Moore rallied after dropping her opening match and then won a straight-set competition following by a three-set victory. Norman rolled to back-to-back straight-set wins over Liberty's Lewis and Campbell's McGraw before being swept against Martins of Campbell. Corpuz and Norman were doubles partners for the weekend and went 1-2 with the win coming against McGraw and Martins on Saturday afternoon, 8-5. Moore teamed up with senior captain
Danika Kahatapitiya (Virginia Beach, Va.) and they won their opening match, 8-0, over Martins and McGraw but the Navy pair lost their final two matches after winning five games in each. Kahatapitiya finished the weekend with a 0-3 record in singles competition.
Rounding out Navy's 12-person squad for the weekend was
Aimee Dervishian (Sr., Milton, Ga.) and
Annalise Klopfer (So., Palm Harbor, Fla.). After dropping a tight 9-7 decision to start their doubles weekend, Dervishian and Klopfer posted an 8-2 win against Isabella Montana and Sarah Whited from Delaware and then won a tiebreaker to finish doubles play against Ana Castillo and Ramon of Campbell, 7-6 (6-3). Individually, Dervishian and Klopfer each posted 1-2 records for the Midshipmen. After dropping two-straight matches to start, Klopfer won her third match in straight sets, 5-3, 4-0. Dervishian rallied from behind to win a three-set match during the second session against Campbell's Alexandra Nicoara, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 11-9, for her singles victory.
Navy has just two fall events left on its schedule both coming over the next two weekends. The Midshipmen are back in action on Friday for West Virginia's Martha Thorn Invitational from Morgantown, W. Va.
