MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite wins from its top two singles players, the Navy women's tennis team (9-3) could not pull off the upset and prolong its winning streak, losing to No. 47 West Virginia (11-1) by 5-2 score on Saturday morning at the Summit Tennis Academy.
Getting singles victories from junior
Emily Tannenbaum and senior
Samantha Johns, the Midshipmen were unable to find answers against the Mountaineers on the rest of the singles courts after losing the doubles point, as Navy's win streak was halted at four matches while West Virginia extended its winning streak to five.
Doubles play started out with WVU's No. 3 pairing of Tatiana Lipatova and Ting-Pei Chang notching a 6-3 victory over Johns and freshman
Makaila Cheng, while the Mountaineers' Michaela Kucharova and Momoko Nagato took down the Mids' top duo of Tannenbaum and rookie
Olivia Fermo, 6-3, to secure the doubles point. Leaving the No. 2 court abandoned, the junior pairing of
Parvathi Shanker and
Kate Lee had a 5-3 advantage over Maya Bordereau and Maja Dodik when the match was called.
Moving onto singles action, Tannenbaum scored a 6-3, 6-0 win at the No. 1 position over Love-Star Alexis to earn Navy a point, but Nagato then beat senior captain
Stella Ribaudo, 6-3, 6-2, on the third court and Dodik knocked off Lee, 6-4, 6-2, in the No. 4 matchup to put WVU on the verge of clinching. The Mountaineers locked up their fifth-straight win when Fermo was defeated by Kucharova in the No. 6 spot, 6-2, 6-1, while Johns notched Navy's other win of the day with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) decision over Bordereau in the No. 2 spot. Rounding out play was Chang beating Shanker by a 6-2, 6-4 margin on the No. 5 court.
Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"WVU was a quality team. We felt we did create opportunities in each match, but for various reasons, too often our execution was lacking at those critical junctures. Parv and Kate's play stood out in doubles, having an opportunity to win their match before being pulled. Emily played a very comprehensive match at No. 1. She played with great poise and precision, while Sam played a gritty match. It was a great third set comeback for Sam - as she was down 1-4 in the third - to get us our second point of the match. Tomorrow's match against a very good and battle-tested Dartmouth team will present more challenges and opportunities for growth."
Match Notes
• Now with 76 career singles wins, Tannenbaum needs two more victories to catch Darien Sears for third in the record book
• Tannenbaum is also now in sole possession of fourth in the Navy record books with 133 career combined victories, passing Kaylah Hodge's total.
• West Virginia is now 1-0 in the all-time series with Navy.
Up Next
Navy returns home to Annapolis on Sunday to play Dartmouth, with the Mids and Big Green set for a 10 a.m. start at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
