Box Score ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy women's tennis team (17-3, 1-0 Patriot League) opened Patriot League play on Saturday with a 7-0 victory over Lehigh (4-5, 1-1 Patriot League) at the Tose Family Tennis Center. The Midshipmen earned a sweep of doubles competition over the Mountain Hawks, prior to taking four of the five singles competitions in straight sets.

"It was a good start to the Patriot League portion of our season," said head coach Keith Puryear. "Even short handed, we knew the Lehigh team was still going to be dangerous. We did a good job of making some in-match adjustments at several spots in both singles and doubles. This is very encouraging for the coaching staff because as we continue the final push, being able to make adjustments like these will be critical for our continued success."
 
With the win over Lehigh on Saturday, Navy head coach Keith Puryear reached 250 victories for his career at the helm of the Midshipmen women's tennis program. Puryear, now is his 14th season in Annapolis and 33rd season overall as a head coach, sits just seven wins shy of 700 for his career.

"Regarding the 250 wins, it is really a testament to the quality of people, the student-athletes, we've had compete for Navy women's tennis," Puryear said of his milestone victory. "I thank the current and former players for their sacrafices, passion and dedication to this team and this program. I also did not do this alone. Coach Ale (Pedergnana) has been right by my side every step of the way. She's as much a part of this accomplishment as I am. I thank her for her unwavering loyalty and support." 
 
The Mids opened play on Saturday with the No. 2 doubles pairing of Casey Accola (Jr., Winter Garden, Fla.) and Samantha Johns (So., Simpsonville, S.C.) downing Lehigh's Anushka Dania and Megha Dania (6-2), prior to the No. 1 team of Katreina Corpuz (Sr., Ewa Beach, Hawai'i) and Meghana Komarraju (Sr., Viena, Va.) earning victory over Junmoke James and Hamsa Javagal (7-5) to secure an early 2-0 lead for Navy.
 
In singles, newcomer Parvathi Shanker (Fr., Napa, Calif.) opened play with a straight-set win in the No. 5 match (6-0, 6-0) over the Mountain Hawks' Brenda Cuadra, followed by Emily Tannenbaum (Fr., Commack, N.Y.) securing the fourth and deciding point for the Midshipmen at the No. 2 position in a straight-set win over James (6-2, 6-1).

With her win in singles on Saturday, Tannenbaum became the first Navy women's tennis player this season to crack the 20-win plateau. The newcomer now has 38 combined wins this season between doubles and singles, just one victory shy of tying Annalise Klopfer and Kacey Moore (Sr., Wellington, Fla.) for the sixth-most combined wins for a single season in program history. 
 
Sylvia Eklund (Fr., Bellevue, Wash.) downed Anushka Dania in the No. 4 competition (6-2, 6-0) to extend the Navy advantage to 5-0 over the Mountain Hawks, prior to Jillian Taggart (Jr., Fair Oaks, Calif.) earning victory over Javagal in a three-set battle at the No. 1 match (6-3, 4-6, 10-3).
 
Moore rounded out the Midshipmen's sweep over Lehigh, earning a straight-set win over Megha Dania in the No. 3 match (7-6, 6-1).
 
The 7-0 victory marks the seventh sweep that Navy has earned this season, along with being its eighth win in the last 10 matches. The Mids also improve to an outstanding 44-11 in regular-season Patriot League matches under the direction of Puryear and associate head coach Alessandra Pedergnana.
 
UP NEXT
The Mids are slated to return to action on Sunday as they welcome Bucknell to Annapolis for their second Patriot League match of the weekend. Action from the Tose Family Tennis Center is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 p.m.