ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A star is on the line this weekend, as the Navy women's tennis team (19-5, 3-0 PL) is set to host rival Army (15-7, 3-0 PL) on Saturday morning at the Tose Family Tennis Center as part of the 2023-24 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA.
The Star Match between the Midshipmen and Black Knights is slated for a 10 a.m. opening serve that will also see a showcase of two of the best teams in the Patriot League, with Navy riding a six-match winning streak into the weekend and Army having won their last five contests.
Star Series Update
The 2023-24 Star Series between the schools sits tied at 9-9-1 with seven stars still up for grabs … The Mids have claimed 39 of the last 45 Star Series, going 39-4-2 in that span … Navy has already captured stars in the following sports this season: men's cross country, men's rugby, volleyball, women's swimming & diving, men's swimming & diving, rifle, men's indoor track & field, women's indoor track & field and gymnastics … Following women's tennis, the next star competitions are men's and women's outdoor track & field on April 6 at West Point.
Series History
Army leads the all-time series by a 13-7 margin … The teams are tied 5-5 over the first 10 installments of the Star Match, with the inaugural regular season meeting between the programs coming in 2013 … Navy has claimed the last two Star Matches, as a 4-1 home win in 2022 was followed by last season's down-to-the-wire 4-3 victory at West Point that was clinched by then-freshman
Sia Chaudry … The two rivals faced off twice in 2023, as the doubles point and singles wins from Chaudry, then-sophomore
Emily Tannenbaum and
Casey Accola helped the Mids earn the star, but the Black Knights claimed the Patriot League semifinal matchup by a 4-2 score despite singles wins from Tannenbaum and then-sophomore
Kate Lee.
Last Time Out
The Mids opened Patriot League play last weekend with three victories, defeating Loyola, Lehigh and Bucknell each by 6-1 scores … Claiming the doubles point in all three matches, Navy was also aided by Tannenbaum, senior
Samantha Johns and Chaudry combining to go 9-0 in the top three singles spots, while Lee and freshman
Makaila Cheng each went 2-0 in singles play as well.
Tannenbaum Chasing Records
Tannenbaum has been near-dominant this spring, posting a 16-1 singles record in dual matches … Last Sunday saw the junior set a pair of program records, as her 30 singles wins this season broke the previous record of 29 established by Amanda Keller in 2015 and matched by Tannenbaum last season, while her 34 career victories at the No. 1 singles position broke the previous program record of 33 set by Keller from 2014 to 2018 … Now sitting alone at third in program history with 80 career singles wins, Tannenbaum needs six more to catch Amanda Keller for second … Sitting third in program history with 147 career combined wins as well, Tannenbaum needs four more to catch Erin Snook for second … Ranking fourth in program history with 64 career doubles wins, Tannenbaum needs four more doubles victories to catch Claudia Mackenzie for third in the record books.
Puryear Reaches Another Milestone
Just weeks after achieving one milestone, head coach
Keith Puryear reached another career milestone with the March 2 win over Drexel … After notching his 200th home win with the Mids on Feb. 17, Puryear earned his 500th victory as a women's head coach by defeating Drexel, as he collected 215 wins as the UMBC women's coach and now has 293 victories at Navy … Including his time as UMBC's men's coach, Puryear now has 736 career coaching wins.
Tannenbaum Named PL Player of the Week for Fourth Time
For the fourth time this season, Tannenbaum was named the Patriot League Women's Tennis Player of the Week on Tuesday … Capturing weekly league honors for the seventh time in her career, Tannenbaum was unstoppable for the Mids to open league play, with the junior posting a perfect 6-0 mark that helped Navy win all three league matches in a four-day span … Going 3-0 in doubles play, Tannenbaum also undefeated in all three matches at the No. 1 singles spot, taking down a former all-league selection in all three battles.
Scouting Army
The Black Knights have rebounded after a pair of losses on March 3, rattling off wins against Monmouth, Villanova, Holy Cross, Loyola and Lafayette to move to 15-7 on the season and 3-0 in league action … Army is led by last season's Patriot League Doubles Team of the Year in Cooper Jackson and Paige Herremans, with Jackson also taking home First-Team All-League honors and Ylan Duong being selected to the All-Patriot League Second Team … Duong has picked up weekly league honors this season, winning Patriot League Player of the Week on Jan. 30.
Up Next
Navy will close out Patriot League regular-season action on April 6, heading to Boston, Mass., for a 5 p.m. match with Boston University.
