ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy women's tennis (5-1) split a home doubleheader on Saturday after dropping its first match of the season to Liberty (3-1) in a narrow 4-3 contest but the Midshipmen rebounded with a 7-0 victory against Saint Joseph's (0-2) at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
 
"Today was a busy day for the team, but overall the coaching staff liked the focus in both matches today," head coach Keith Puryear commented. "The Liberty match was a battle. I credit both teams for their grit and fight. On our end, we fell behind early on a few courts today but did a great job of trying to work our way back into each of the matches. Annalise and Katreina played very comprehensive matches and Meghana fought back to win in a tiebreaker. Ultimately, in terms of the match score, we might have been unsuccessful but in the grand scheme of things and with the rest of the season to come, this match is one we can and will learn from and use to improve.
 
"In the match against Saint Joseph's, we did a good job against a very scrappy team. Two and three doubles came out quickly to get the doubles point and Aimee did a great job against a very tough competitor at No. 1 singles. We are now looking forward to a great week of practice to prepare for next weekend's matches."
 
Liberty 4, Navy 3
 
In the opening match of the day for the Midshipmen, they fell behind early as they won just one doubles match and the Flames won the doubles point to take the 1-0 advantage. The pair of Kaylah Hodge (Sr., Upper Marlboro, Md.) and Amanda Cyr (Jr., Cary, N.C.) got the first doubles win of the day with a 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles against Alexandra Almborg and Grace Hashiguchi. However, Liberty came right back to tie up the singles score at one with a 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles as Eloise Saraty and Kalani Soli beat Katreina Corpuz (So., Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and Meghana Komarraju (So., Vienna, Va.).
 
With the doubles point hanging in the balance, Tiffany Nguyen and Michaela Ode Mitre edged out Aimee Dervishian (Sr., Milton, Ga.) and Annalise Klopfer (So., Palm Harbor, Fla.) in a 6-3 decision at No. 2 as the Flames took the doubles point. 
 
Shifting into singles competition, Corpuz bounced back from her doubles loss and tied the match at one with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles against Saraty. The back-and-forth battle continued with Liberty regaining the advantage with Soli winning a 6-0, 6-4 contest at No. 1 singles against Hodge. The overall score was tied for the second time following Klopfer's straight-set victory over Esther Lovato at the fourth-seeded singles match, 6-2, 6-4.
 
With the score tied at two points apiece, the final three matches on the court each went into three sets. Ode Mitre gave the Flames the advantage once more at No. 5 singles after edging out Samantha Choi (Fr., Warrenville, Ill.) – ranked 114th in the country – in a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 affair. Almborg clinched the match for Liberty at No. 2 singles following her 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 win against Kacey Moore (So., Wellington, Fla.). Despite Liberty securing the match, Komarraju battled Nguyen in a tight match at the No. 3 with a pair of tiebreakers and a third-set 10-point tiebreaker. In the back-and-forth contest to close out the match, Komarraju came away with the victory, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 (10-5).
 
Navy 7, Saint Joseph's 0
 
After dropping its first match of the season, Navy rebounded with its third sweep of the year to get back on track and split the doubleheader. The Midshipmen started their match against Saint Joseph's with a sweep of the doubles matches. Miranda Deng (Jr., North Potomac, Md.) and Jillian Taggart (Fr., Fair Oaks, Calif.) started the dual with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles and Danika Kahatapitiya (Sr., Virginia Beach, Va.) and Moore followed with a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles. With the doubles point in hand, Choi and Tina Li (Jr., Wexford, Pa.) capped off the sweep with a 7-5 victory at the top-seeded doubles match.
 
With the 1-0 lead at the start of singles competition, Li doubled the Navy lead with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Sophia Amato at No. 5 singles. In the sixth-seeded singles contest, Irene Norman (Fr., Aurora, Ohio) put the Midshipmen on the brink of victory with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Alex Kramer. Brooke Bogdanovich (Jr., Suwanee, Ga.) earned the clinching point for Navy at No. 3 singles following a 6-2, 6-1 affair against Ireland Amato. Casey Accola (Fr., Winter Garden, Fla.) capped off the Midshipmen's run of straight-set wins with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Stow Weiss at No. 2 singles.
 
The final two matches each went into a 10-point tiebreaker after splitting the first two sets. Deng won 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 4 singles against Paige Conrad to push the Navy lead to six points. Dervishian secured the 7-0 win for the Midshipmen after upending Amanda Nava at No. 1 singles, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 1-0 (10-4).
 
Navy is back home for three matches next weekend starting on Friday at 1 p.m. against Big Ten foe Indiana at the Tose Family Tennis Center.