LEWISBURG, Pa. – Navy women's tennis (5-2, 3-1 Patriot League) picked up its third-straight victory and second-straight win without dropping a match after the Midshipmen grabbed a 7-0 win on the road over Bucknell (3-4, 2-3 Patriot League) on Sunday afternoon.
Along with extending its winning streak for the season, Navy has now won its last 14 matches against Bucknell.
"Today was a good performance by the ladies," head coach
Keith Puryear said. "This was Bucknell's senior day and they came out to fight and fire to support their senior class. I do not think the scores really reflect the closeness of this match.
"We fell behind at both No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, but recovered to secure both matches. After doubles, the ladies then did a good job of getting the first sets at Nos. 2-6. Jill lost the first but then was able to play two very good sets to a tough opponent. Coach Ale and I feel that we continue to move in a very positive direction as we approach the end of the Patriot League regular season. We are looking forward to a good week of practice."
The Bison and Midshipmen played through hard-fought doubles matches where two of the three matches went into tiebreakers. The junior pair of
Katreina Corpuz (Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and
Meghana Komarraju (Vienna, Va.) got Navy ahead early in the race for the doubles point with a 6-4 win at No. 2 over Tyne Miller and Laurel Utterback.
At the top-seeded doubles match,
Miranda Deng (Sr., North Potomac, Md.) and
Jillian Taggart (So., Fair Oaks, Calif.) outlasted Daniela Bellini and Cayla Koch in a 7-6 (7-5) decision to secure the doubles point for the Midshipmen. In the final doubles match at No. 3,
Samantha Johns (Fr., Simpsonville, S.C.) and
Kacey Moore (Jr., Wellington, Fla.) edged out Sofia Ayuso and Kate Novak, 7-6 (8-6), as Navy swept the three doubles matches.
With the 1-0 lead, the Midshipmen kept the momentum going from its doubles sweep as Johns kept her strong day going at No. 6 singles with a 6-1, 6-1 victory to extend Navy's lead to 2-0 against Novak. Then at No. 5, Corpuz won a straight-set match over Utterback, 6-3, 6-1, as the Midshipmen took a 3-0 advantage. The clinching point of the afternoon came from Komarraju at No. 3 singles with her 6-2, 6-3 victory against Miller to give Navy a 4-0 lead.
At No. 2 singles, Moore won Navy's fourth-straight singles match in straight sets after she upended Koch – who was unbeaten on the season – 6-0, 6-4. Deng capped off the Midshipmen's straight-set wins at No. 4 singles after beating Ayuso, 6-4, 6-3. In the lone three-set match of the day, Taggart bounced back after dropping the opening set to win her match at No. 1 singles, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, over Bellini to secure the 7-0 win for the Midshipmen.
Navy concludes its regular season on Saturday afternoon with a neutral site match against Boston University in West Point, N.Y. at 2 p.m.
