BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Navy women's tennis team (18-6, 1-0 Patriot League) started its Patriot League slate on Saturday afternoon with a 6-1 victory on the road against Lehigh (4-9, 0-3 Patriot League).
 
The Midshipmen's match on Sunday against Colgate has been shifted indoors to Drumlins Tennis Center in Syracuse, N.Y., and the match will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
 
"I was pleased with our play against a tough Lehigh team," head coach Keith Puryear said after the match. "Lehigh is a particularly tough team to play at home, so our effort today was commendable. I felt like we had good energy throughout the whole match and the team did a good supporting each other. We must now ready ourselves for our next match against Colgate tomorrow."
 
Navy got off to a strong start on Saturday against the Mountain Hawks with the first two doubles wins to clinch the doubles points. Aimee Dervishian (Jr., Milton, Ga.) and Annalise Klopfer (Fr., Palm Harbor, Fla.) teamed up at No. 2 doubles to sweep Elizabeth Nowak and Casey Zhong, 6-0.
 
The clinching doubles match for the Midshipmen came at No. 3 doubles where Kaylah Hodge (Jr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Miranda Deng (So., North Potomac, Md.) grabbed a 6-1 victory against Leigh Friedman and Grace Lin. Lehigh won the finals doubles match to avoid the sweep at No. 1 doubles after Sibel Can and Paula Gonzalez upended Amanda Cyr (So., Cary, N.C.) and Catalina Rico (Sr., San Jose, Calif.), 6-3.
 
With the 1-0 lead in the match at the start of singles competition, Hodge moved one win away from 100 in her career after beating Can in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 2 singles to double the Navy lead. Klopfer put the Midshipmen on the brink of victory with a 6-2, 6-3 decision against Nowak at No. 3 singles. The Mountain Hawks earned their lone point of the afternoon at No. 1 singles after Ansofi Wreder (Jr., Miami, Fla.) suffered a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Gonzalez. 
 
Holding a 3-1 lead over Lehigh with three matches left, Katreina Corpuz (Fr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii) sealed the win for Navy at fourth-seeded singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Lin. Each of the six singles matches ended in straight sets after Kacey Moore (Fr., Wellington, Fla.) swept Zhong at No. 6, 6-1, 6-1, and Meghana Komarraju (Fr., Vienna, Va.) sealed Navy's 6-1 win with her 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles to round out the afternoon against Catherine Meighan.
 
In an exhibition match following the dual, Danika Kahatapitiya (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) won a 7-5, 6-2 match over Friedman. 
 
The Midshipmen are back in action on Sunday against Colgate at 4 p.m. in Syracuse, N.Y. at Drumlins Tennis Center.