ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Navy women's tennis (2-1, 0-0 Patriot League) hits the road for the first time this season as the Midshipmen travel to West Point, N.Y. for the Star Match against Army (6-2, 3-0 Patriot League) on Saturday at 11 a.m. Attendance is limited to West Point Cadets, faculty and staff.
The Star Match is part of the Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA. Navy currently leads the Star Series, 6-4. The Midshipmen earn Star wins in men's cross country, men's basketball, wrestling, men's and women's indoor track & field and women's lacrosse. Navy also leads the overall Army-Navy series this year, 7-6.
Entering the weekend, the Midshipmen sit at 2-1 on the year as they returned from a three-week pause last weekend and suffered a 4-3 loss to Richmond. Navy dropped the doubles point against the Spider and both teams split the six singles matches. Freshman
Samantha Johns went 2-0 last weekend after she partnered with
Corinne Farid at No. 3 doubles against Richmond and won a 6-3 match. Johns also won in straight sets at No. 6 singles, 7-5, 6-2.
As a team, Navy is 12-6 in singles competition with
Miranda Deng leading the Midshipmen with a record of 3-0. The senior has gone 1-0 at No. 3 singles and 2-0 at No. 4. Navy is also a perfect 3-0 at the No. 6 spot with Johns going 2-0 at the position and fellow freshman
Stella Ribaudo is 1-0.
In doubles, the Midshipmen have compiled a 6-3 record over their first three duals and they are 2-1 at each of the three positions. The freshmen pair of Farid and Johns are 2-0 as a team and Johns is the lone player for Navy to enter the weekend with a perfect mark in doubles at 2-0. Navy's top-two doubles teams of Deng and
Jillian Taggart and
Katreina Corpuz and
Meghana Komarraju are both 2-1. Deng and Taggart have appeared at the No. 1 spot in each match with Corpuz and Komarraju appearing in the No. 2 spot during the three matches.
Army comes into the weekend with a record of 6-2 and the Black Knights have won each of their first three Patriot League matches of the season. After dropping their first two matches of the season, Army has rattled off six-straight wins after upending Lafayette last weekend, 6-0. Ana Joyner leads the Black Knights into the match as she has been selected as the Patriot League Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.
Army and Navy met twice during the 2019 season where they split the matchups. The Midshipmen won a 4-3 decision in the Star Match in West Point but the Black Knights won a 4-2 match during the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament. In the all-time series, Army holds a 10-4 edge over Navy. Over the last eight meetings between the two service academy rivals, they have alternated results and each has won four times.
After the Star Match, the Midshipmen continue their road stretch at Lehigh on Saturday, April 10 at 2 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa.
