ANNAPOLIS, Md. – It was a dominant Sunday for the Navy women's tennis team in singles competition, as the Midshipmen combined to sweep the top-four singles draws in the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational at the Brigade Sports Complex.
 
With five Mids making it to their singles flight finals at the three-day tournament and two doubles teams doing the same, junior Emily Tannenbaum took home the crown in the top singles draw, while senior Samantha came out atop the "B" draw and junior Parvathi Shanker and freshman Anna Jordaan claimed the "C" and "D" main draws, respectively.
 
"The coaching staff commends the ladies on the grit shown this weekend," said head coach Keith Puryear. "The quality of the teams in the event was high. To have players in four of the five main-draw flight finals in singles and in both doubles finals - winning four of the seven main-draw flights, while also winning a back-draw singles and doubles as well - is a monumental accomplishment."
 
Tannenbaum and sophomore Sia Chaudry both battled their way to the finals of the singles "A" draw, as Tannenbaum took down Towson's Mya Spencer and back-to-back William & Mary players in Emma Fernald and Hedda Gurholt to reach the title match, while Chaudry defeated UNCW's Stela Joksimovic before winning against William & Mary's Yu Chen and Alessandra Anghel to earn a matchup with her Navy teammate. In the finals, Chaudry won the first set before Tannenbaum came back for a 6-7 (3), 6-1, 11-9 victory.
 
In the "B" draw, Johns battled past Towson's Olivia Rothfeld, George Washington's Madison Lee and UNCW's Lucia Gomez to meet Ine Stange of the Tribe in the finals, knocking off the William & Mary player, 6-3, 4-6, 11-9. Fellow senior Stella Ribaudo also won her first-round match against Seton Hall's Imogen Brooker before dropping a three-set battle with Stange.
 
The "C" singles draw had three Mids advance past the opening round, as Shanker, fellow junior Sylvia Eklund and freshman Manci Pal all claimed wins to start the weekend. Shanker went through Villanova's Emma Brogan and UNCW's Katelyn Hubbard before defeating her teammate, Pal, in a three-set semifinal and picking up a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 win over Georgetown's Morgan Coburn. Pal met Shanker after wins against GW's Charlotte Bell and Towson's Ashira Murray, while Eklund defeated Solange Skeene before falling to Coburn in the quarterfinals.
 
In the "D" draw, Jordaan claimed her title with wins against Villanova's Maddie Hills, Georgetown's McHaley Ho, UNCW's Elif Albayrak and Villanova's Lauren Monti. Junior Kate Lee and freshmen Makaila Cheng and Olivia Fermo also reached the quarterfinals before bowing out, as Cheng rattled off three back-draw wins to end up claiming the consolation finals over Hills.
 
Freshman Carly Mew, the lone Mid in the "E" draw, nearly won her first match of the weekend via a three-set loss to Rena Ishiguchi of GW and then finished her weekend with a loss to Villanova's Bella Steffan.
 
Sunday results saw Tannenbaum and Johns claiming the "A" and "B" singles champions once again after winning those titles at Navy's Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational three weeks ago, respectively.
 
With two Navy team competing in the top doubles draw, Tannenbaum and Ribaudo partnered to reach the finals, defeating Gomez Anna Parker Shumate of UNCW, Fernald and Chen of William & Mary and GW's Lee and Gabriela Giraldo to set up a title match against the Tribe's Gurholt and Francesca Davis, but the William & Mary duo claimed the championship by a 6-3 score. Chaudry and Johns also paired up in the top flight, falling to GW's Stella Wiesemann and Victoria Sasinka in the first round before recording a win over Aina Plana Ventosa and Anastasia Sereda of Seton Hall and a loss to Georgetown's Olivia Ashton and Chloe Bendetti in the consolation bracket.
 
In the "B" doubles flight, two of Navy's four pairings made it out of the opening round in the main draw, as Shanker and Kate Lee marched to the finals with wins over Seton Hall's Brooker and Hili Kronzon, the Tribe's Yaelle Vaissaud and Parker Debnam and the Villanova duo of Hills and Miriam Gondorova, but eventually fell to GW's Skeene and Alejandra Ramirez, 6-4. Also advancing to the "B" semifinals were Fermo and Cheng, who defeated Towson's Rothfeld and Chandre Boshoff and Villanova's Maggie Gehrig and Valieriia Kornieva before losing to Ramirez and Skeene. A third Navy pairing of Eklund and Jordan picked up two wins in the consolation bracket after an opening loss, but fell in the consolation finals to Georgetown's Coburn and Avantika Willy.
 
"All weekend long, everyone on our team battled, supported their teammates and was willing to use the things we've been stressing in our practices," added Puryear. "Our goal has been to improve throughout the fall, and we feel like we're doing just that. These results are particularly impressive coming off of six-week exams this past week. We now look forward to a day off and getting back to the business of improving starting Tuesday."
 
Navy returns to action when it sends four players to the Third Annual San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic on Oct. 13-15.