ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's tennis team started its 2021 fall slate by winning three flights at the Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational this weekend at the Brigade Sports Complex.
This year's Moore Invitational was a three-day event lasting Sept. 10-12 with an eight-team field of Binghamton, Bucknell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Lehigh, Mary Washington, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure joining the Midshipmen.
"After having the competition portion of the fall canceled last year, it felt good to get out there and compete again," said head coach
Keith Puryear. "We had eight players participating for the first time this fall, that led to some initial nerves, but we maintained our poise to fight through them on the first day.
"While I must congratulate our flight winners, I feel we all did a great job this weekend. Whether we won or lost, it's important that we use this event as feedback for our continued improvement."
Junior
Jillian Taggart (Fair Oaks, Calif.) led the way for Navy, posting a perfect 4-0 singles record in the competition's A flight. Taggart defeated St. Bonaventure's Anastasia Gubanova (6-4, 6-2), Mary Washington's Claire Coleman (6-0, 6-1), Bucknell's Daniela Bellini (6-4, 4-6, 10-9) and her teammate
Emily Tannenbaum (Fr., Commack, N.Y.) in the A flight championship (5-7, 6-3, 10-5) to secure her first flight victory of the 2021 fall season.
In her first collegiate action,
Sylvia Eklund (Fr., Bellevue, Wash.) also went 4-0 in singles competition, participating in the D flight. Eklund defeated Mary Washington's Emily Beckner (6-0, 6-2) prior to downing Bucknell's Kate Novak (6-0, 6-2) and Fairleigh Dickinson's Amina Lasheen (6-7, 6-3, 10-5). Eklund secured victory of the D flight after
Casey Accola (Jr., Winter Gardner, Fla.) was forced to retire prior to the championship match between the two teammates.
The final victory of the invitational for the Mids came in the B flight of doubles competition with the pairing of
Samantha Johns (So., Simpsonville, S.C.) and
Kacey Moore (Sr., Wellington, Fla.) picking up the win.
Johns and Moore began their charge through the B flight by defeating St. Bonaventure's Alexandra Jansson and Paula Velilla (8-3) prior to taking down Lehigh's Ella Imof and Junmoke James in the quarterfinal round. In the semifinals of the flight, the pair defeated Mary Washington's Amanda Hagino and Claire Coleman (8-2) to secure a spot in the championship match.
The Midshipmen pairing secured a victory of the doubles B flight by besting Fairleigh Dickinson's Namie Isago and Marta Bettinelli (8-5).
Rounding out the top performers in singles competition for Navy over the weekend was the trio of Accola, team captain
Meghana Komarraju (Sr., Vienna, Va.) and
Parvathi Shanker (Fr., Napa, Calif.), all of whom tallied two victories over the three days of competition.
Accola, playing in the singles D flight, advanced to the semifinal round after Monmouth's Madison Mills was forced to retire. In the semifinal match, Accola bested Bucknell's Caroline Marcus (6-3, 4-6, 10-7) in what would be her final match of the tournament.
Komarraju earned a berth in the singles flight B semifinal round after securing victories over Binghamton's Caterina Casadei (1-0, retired) and Bucknell's Tyne Miller (6-4, 6-2) before ultimately falling to Johns in the semifinal round (1-6, 7-6, 5-10).
Making her collegiate debut, Shanker advanced to the championship round of the singles C flight consolation bracket after picking up victories over Fairleigh Dickinson's Bettinelli and Binghamton's Kyra Bergmann (7-6, 6-2) before ultimately falling in the consolation final to Monmouth's Zoe Klapman (3-6, 4-6).
UP NEXT
Navy will have a quick turnaround as it will travel to take part in a pair of fall invitationals next week. The Midshipmen will participate in the Elon Invitational in Elon N.C. (Sept. 17-19) in addition to select members of the team participating in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic in Milwaukee, Wis. (Sept. 18-20).
