ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy women's tennis opens its 2019-20 season this weekend as it hosts the Bill and Sandra Moore Invitational. The invitational will take place at the Brigade Sports Complex and beings on Friday at noon and will run through Sunday. Competition on Saturday and Sunday is set to begin at 9 a.m.
Navy welcomes Binghamton, Bucknell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Howard, Lehigh, Monmouth, Niagara and St. Bonaventure for the weekend tournament. The tournament will include three doubles draws and five singles draws.
During last season's Moore Invitational,
Kacey Moore won the singles C flight after winning five-straight contests without dropping a set. Overall, the Midshipmen had six individuals advance to the semifinals of the four flights with Moore and
Danika Kahatapitiya advancing to the finals. In the D flight, Kahatapitiya won three matches before dropping a straight-set match in the final round of the flight.
In the two doubles flights, Navy had four pairs make it to the semifinals with three teams competing in the finals. During an all Navy final match in the B flight,
Miranda Deng and
Katreina Corpuz edged
Annalise Klopfer and Moore in a narrow 6-3 contest. The A flight in doubles featured an all Navy semifinal with
Amanda Cyr and
Catalina Rico winning the semifinal matchup and then finishing second overall in the flight.
Last season, Navy finished 23-9 overall and were 5-1 in the Patriot League to finish second overall in the regular season. The Midshipmen advanced to the league semifinals and also finished with their eighth 20-win season in the programs 10 seasons.
Moore led Navy in singles competition during her freshmen campaign and went 27-3 overall while posting an 18-2 mark in dual action. The 27 victories Moore compiled last year were second-most all-time in a single season and she finished just two wins shy of the program record of 29. However, Moore's .900 winning percentage did break the program record of .867. In doubles, Klopfer guided Navy with 23 wins last season and was a victory shy of moving into a four-way tie for the most doubles wins in a season. Klopfer was 23-6 on the season and she partnered with
Aimee Dervishian to go 12-4 in duals.
Heading into the 2019-20 season, Navy returns 10 of 12 letter winners and five of six starters from a season ago. The Midshipmen also have nine players who captured at least 10 singles wins last season and six of those nine also had at least 10 singles victories in dual matches. Seven returners also collected at least 15 doubles wins a season ago.
This season, the Midshipmen are set to compete in six tournaments in the fall and will be hosting two events over the next three weeks. Navy will also host the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational from October 4-6. The Midshipmen will be sending individuals back to the Milwaukee Tennis Classic for the third-straight season.
Navy will also take part in a pair of brand-new events for the program as it travels to the Liberty Invitational on Oct. 12 and 13 in Lynchburg, Va., and the Midshipmen will also make their first appearance at West Virginia's Martha Thorn Invitational. The 2019 ITA Atlantic Regional is set to take place in Blacksburg, Va., from Oct. 25-28.
