NORFOLK, Va. – The Navy women's tennis team (20-4, 3-0 Patriot League) saw its four-match win streak come to an end Sunday in a 7-0 road loss to No. 33 Old Dominion (15-6) at the Monarchs' Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
Sunday's contest marked just the second time this season that the Midshipmen have been swept in both doubles and singles competition, along with being just the third time this dual season that Navy has lost the doubles point.
"I thought we did a good job of coming out with an aggressive mindset and playing the elements," said associate head coach
Alessandra Pedergnana. "We had our opportunities, but in some matches we were not able to execute. However, it did not mean we weren't setting up the point properly. I'm proud of the team's effort against a nationally-ranked opponent, the team never stopped fighting our team captain
Meghana Komarraju is a great example of this. She played the same opponent just a few weeks back and made adjustments in a match that could have gone either way. This is a really good match for us, we will take the things that we learned with us as we move forward into our upcoming matches."
ODU opened play on Sunday with a win at the No. 1 doubles, as Tatsiana Sasnouskaya and Yuliia Starodubtseva, the fourth-ranked doubles team in the nation, defeated the Navy duo of
Samantha Johns (So., Simpsonville, S.C.) and
Stella Ribaudo (So., Chicago, Ill.) (6-1).
The doubles point would be secured for the Monarchs as the No. 3 position, as Sofia Johnson and Alexandra Viktorovich downed
Kacey Moore (Sr., Wellington, Fla.) and
Jillian Taggart (Jr., Fair Oaks, Calif.) (6-4).
With the opening point of the match secured, the remaining doubles competition that featured the Mids' No. 2 team of
Casey Accola (Jr., Winter Garden, Fla.) and
Emily Tannenbaum (Fr., Commack, N.Y.) taking on Shahar Biran and Alesya Yakubovich. Accola and Tannenbaum jumped out to a 5-4 lead in the first set prior to the contest being called.
In singles, Taggart was defeated in straight sets by Sasnouskaya (6-1, 6-0) to extend the Old Dominion lead to 2-0, prior Shahar besting Accola in a straight-set decision of her own (6-0, 6-0) in the No. 6 singles match.
The fourth and deciding point of the match for the Monarchs would come at the at the No. 5 position, as Yakubovich tallied a straight-set decision over Ribaudo (6-0, 6-2). The next match to be decided was a straight-set decision in favor of Starodubtseva over Tannenbaum (6-3, 6-0) at the No. 1 singles, followed by Moore falling to Johnson at the No. 4 position (6-0, 6-4) and
Meghana Komarraju (Sr., Vienna, Va.) dropping a hard-fought match to Marina Alcaide (7-5, 7-6 [7-5]).
UP NEXT
The Midshipmen are slated to return to Patriot League play 3 p.m. Wednesday as they travel to Baltimore for a contest against Loyola.
