ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy women's tennis wrapped up the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational with four flight victories over the three-day tournament at the Brigade Sports Complex.
Sophomore's
Katreina Corpuz (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and
Meghana Komarraju (Vienna, Va.) teamed up to win the doubles A flight. In the doubles B flight,
Danika Kahatapitiya (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) and
Kacey Moore (So., Wellington, Fla.) won the bracket, while freshmen
Jillian Taggart (Fair Oaks, Calif.) and
Samantha Choi (Warrenville, Ill.) won the singles C and D flights, respectively.
The Midshipmen had finalists in four of the six flights along with an all-Navy final in the doubles B flight and the singles C flight. This also marks the second-straight home tournament that Navy has swept the doubles draws.
"I thought we looked sharp this weekend," head coach
Keith Puryear said. "The event was stocked with very good teams and it meant we had to come out guns blazing from the first match. We continue to improve with each event we play. I loved what Aimee did this weekend, particularly with her fighting a cold. Our doubles teams were good across the board, winning both the A and B flight, with Navy vs. Navy in the B final. Congrats to our flight winners, Meghana, Sam, Jill, Katreina, Danika and Kacey. We must keep looking forward and improvement continues to be our focus."
In the doubles A flight, the Midshipmen had four teams in the field with the pair of Corpuz and Komarraju rolling into the finals with three-straight victories and then they won a 6-0 contest against Maddy Muller-Hughes and Sarah Merrill of UNC Wilmington in the final to win the match. The sophomore duo was the only Navy pair to win their opening-round match as the Midshipmen's three other teams lost in the first round to move into the consolation side of the draw.
Amanda Cyr (Jr., Cary, N.C.) and
Kaylah Hodge (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) won their final three matches win the consolation final of the A flight against Georgetown's Olivia Ashton and Anna Short, 7-6 (7-4). Taggart and
Miranda Deng (Jr., North Potomac, Md.) finished the tournament 1-2 after losing to Cyr and Hodge in the semifinals of the consolation rounds. Navy's final team of
Aimee Dervishian (Sr., Milton, Ga.) and
Annalise Klopfer (So., Palm Harbor, Fla.) dropped both of their matches in the draw.
With just two teams in the doubles B flight, the Midshipmen controlled the bracket with an all-Navy final. Choi and
Tina Li (Jr., Wexford, Pa.) won a 6-4 match followed by a 6-3 decision to secure their spot in the final. On the bottom half of the bracket, Kahatapitiya and Moore dropped just three games over the first two rounds to complete the all-Navy final in the flight. The pair of Kahatapitiya and Moore edged out Choi and Li in a 7-5 decision.
Shifting into the singles portion of the tournament, the Midshipmen had three players in the singles A flight where Moore was on the only one to win an opening-round match. She won 6-1, 6-4 over Maryland's Zoe Kulkarni and then moved into the semifinals after another straight-set win. However, Merrill ended Moore's run in the semifinals following a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) match. Moore finished fourth overall in the draw after an 8-5 loss to Paige La of George Mason in the third-place match.
Klopfer and Hodge both lost in the opening round and then met up in the semifinals of the consolation rounds with Hodge winning 8-3 en route to winning the consolation final.
Navy's trio of Corpuz, Cyr and Komarraju all won their opening-round matches in the singles B flight. However, Cyr and Komarraju lost in the quarterfinals. Komarraju bounced back with an 8-1 against Mary Washington's Rachel Summers. Corpuz moved to the semifinals before bowing out of the championship draw. In the third-place match, Corpuz rolled to an 8-0 win over Chole Hamlin of Maryland.
An all-Navy final highlighted the singles C draw after Dervishian and Taggart each won their first two matches to advance to the finals. The Navy pair each won a 6-2 set to force a third-set tiebreaker. Taggart won the tiebreaker 10-8 to edge out Dervishian for the C flight crown. Deng and Kahatapitiya each lost their first matches of the draw with Kahatapitiya advancing to the consolation final before losing her second match of the tournament. Deng went on to win her second match of the tournament 8-4 against George Mason's Hannah Harrod.
Appearing in her first collegiate event, Choi went on to the final round in both singles and doubles. After falling short in doubles, Choi rolled to the title in the singles D flight without dropping a set. Choi capped off her weekend with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Annie Gupta of UNC Wilmington. Also in the D flight was Li and
Irene Norman (Fr., Aurora, Ohio). Li lost in the first round but won two supersets in the consolation round to win the consolation side of the flight. Norman rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 first-round win over Georgetown's Brooke Murphy but lost in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
Navy will now head to Lynchburg, Va., for the Liberty Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.
