ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy women's tennis (2-0) continued its homestand to start the 2021 season with a 6-1 win over Towson (1-4) on Sunday afternoon at the Tose Family Tennis Center. With the win, the Midshipmen have now won their last 11 home matches.
 
"We are taking the attitude with each match to just appreciate the opportunity to represent Navy," head coach Keith Puryear commented. "Overall, today was a gritty performance. Towson has a few more matches under their belt than we do and they were feisty. I liked the resolve we showed today to problem solve and find a way to accomplish the task at hand."
 
The Midshipmen got off to a strong start in the match as they won the race to the doubles point and won the top-two seeded matches to take the 1-0 lead. Miranda Deng (Sr., North Potomac, Md.) and Jillian Taggart (So., Fair Oaks, Calif.) picked a 6-3 win over Themis Haliou and Alexa Martinez at No. 1 doubles. In the match at No. 2 doubles, Katreina Corpuz (Jr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and Meghana Komarraju (Jr., Vienna, Va.) also earned a 6-3 victory to seal the doubles point against Jessica Assenmacher and Lea Kosanovic.
 
Towson avoided the sweep in doubles after Lauryn Jacobs and Amelia Lawson edged out Corinne Farid (Fr., Columbia, Md.) and Tina Li (Sr., Wexford, Pa.) in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-4).
 
"In doubles play, Jillian and Miranda did a good job of maintaining composure and not panicking after being down a break early in the set," Puryear said. "Katreina and Meghana got up early and were able to ride that early lead home for our second doubles win. Tina and Corinne at three had some chances. We had at least one match point, but while they were not able to capitalize, I liked the way they fought back after being down a break of serve early."
 
The Tigers evened the match right out of the gate in singles competition after Sarah Pospischill won a 6-1, 6-3 contest at No. 4 singles against Corpuz. Komarraju regained the lead for Navy at No. 2 singles after beating Lawson, 6-4, 6-2. At No. 1 singles, Taggart put the Midshipmen on the brink of victory after she swept Haliou in a 6-2, 6-4 decision. Deng clinched the victory for the Midshipmen at No. 3 after beating Martinez, 7-5, 6-1.
 
Stella Ribaudo (Fr., Chicago, Ill.) made her collegiate debut at No. 6 singles and won a 6-3, 6-2 contest over Kosanovic. The final match on the court featured Li earning a 6-4, 6-2 win against Assenmacher at No. 5 to secure the 6-1 victory for Navy.
 
In an exhibition match, Farid won a 6-0, 6-1 match against Schuyler Tose to close out the day for the Midshipmen.
 
"Stella Ribaudo, in her first collegiate singles match came up big. She weathered a few storms early in the first set, then was able to gain control in the second set to secure the win," Puryear mentioned. "Same with both Miranda's match at No. 3 and Meghana's match at No. 2. Themis Haliou from Towson at No. 1 singles was on a hot streak. She had played everyone tough and beaten both the No. 1 for Liberty and also the No. 1 at Radford – who is a VCU transfer. Jillian did a great job to get the first set at No. 1 and then fought back in the second after losing a 3-0 lead. Her mental resilience to grind out the last few games at 4-4 was impressive.
 
"Our team captain, Tina Li, also stepped up. After being down a break in the first, she broke twice to get the first set and then did a great job of keeping the momentum of the match in her favor to roll through the second set. Katreina at four fought hard. I thought Sarah Pospischill from Towson played a solid match. It is a good one for Katreina to learn from moving forward."