ANNAPOLIS, Md. – After trailing 3-0 in the match, third-seeded Navy women's tennis (7-3) rallied and posted the final four team points to upend second-seeded Army (12-4) in a 4-3 decision on Saturday afternoon in the Patriot League Tournament Semifinals. With the victory, the Midshipmen now advance to the championship match where they will take on No. 1-seeded Boston University (9-1) on Sunday at noon from the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium in Annapolis.
Sunday marks Navy's seventh appearance in the Patriot League Tournament Final and this will be the third time Navy and Boston square off for the league title.
"It was a humdinger," head coach
Keith Puryear commented. "We lost the doubles point and the doubles point really came down to a couple of points here and there. Heading into singles we told them to focus on their match. We were still in the same situation when the match started; we need to get four points. We just needed to take it ball-by-ball, point-by-point, game-by-game, and just continue to fight and that is what we did.
"Unbelievable atmosphere. Our fans really helped us to the victory today," Puryear mentioned about the crowd. "The ladies that were not playing, the families, the fans and Army had tons of fans out here as well, so it was a great atmosphere. It definitely is a challenge to play before a crowd like that, because you want to do well and that could add additional pressure. But I liked the way we handled everything and I am just really proud of this team."
At the start, Army seized early control of the match and the race for the doubles point after Stephanie Dolehide and Caroline Vincent picked up a 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles against
Miranda Deng (Sr., North Potomac, Md.) and
Jillian Taggart (So., Fair Oaks, Calif.). However, Navy battled back to even doubles at one match apiece after
Katreina Corpuz (Jr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii) and
Meghana Komarraju (Jr., Vienna, Va.) grinded out a 6-4 victory at No. 2 doubles over Sam DiMaio and Ana Joyner.
In the final doubles match on the court, the pair of
Samantha Johns (Fr., Simpsonville, S.C.) and
Kacey Moore (Jr., Wellington, Fla.) got off to a strong start but Army's Paola Bou and Justine Dondonay rallied to win in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-2).
Army and Navy both won the opening set on three courts and the Black Knights kept the momentum from doubles and took the first singles match at No. 1, 6-4, 6-2 as Joyner outlasted Taggart and then at No. 4, Deng dropped a 6-2, 6-3 decision to Bou as Army found itself on the brink of victory with a 3-0 lead.
Johns started Navy's comeback effort as she earned a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles over Carolyn Ahn to get the Midshipmen on the board. Then at No. 3 singles, Komarraju rallied from 5-2 down in the second to complete the sweep over Vincent in a tiebreaker 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). With Army leading by just a point, Corpuz and Dondonay split a pair of 6-1 sets and after dropping the second set, Corpuz bounced back in the third set to win 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 at No. 5 singles and tie the match at three points apiece.
Sitting in a deadlock, the deciding match came down to the contest at No. 2 singles. After Moore lost 6-3 in the opening set, the junior rallied to win the final two sets in 6-2 fashion to win the match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, and secure the Midshipmen's 4-3 come from behind victory over Army.
The 2021 Patriot League Tournament marks the third time Navy has hosted the tournament and each time the Midshipmen have hosted the championship they have appeared in the tournament final.
Saturday was also the 1,999th all-time Army-Navy meeting overall where the Midshipmen hold a 1,112-843-44 record of the Black Knights.
