ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With nine returners from last season's Patriot League championship squad, the Navy women's tennis team is slated to open the 2024-25 campaign on Friday, as the Midshipmen host the 15th Annual Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational this weekend in Annapolis, Md.
With head coach
Keith Puryear and associate head coach
Alessandra Pedergnana kicking off their 17th leading the program, Navy will welcome seven teams to the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium and Tose Family Tennis Center this weekend, as tournament action starts up Friday at noon. Competition on Saturday and Sunday is slated to begin at 9 a.m.
Tournament Information
Singles play will be broken up into five draws, while doubles competition is set for three flights … Friday includes doubles action up to semifinals in the main draw, while main-draw singles goes up to the quarterfinals … Saturday will feature the semifinals of main draw doubles and one round of consolation doubles, along with the quarterfinals and semifinals of main singles and consolation singles … Sunday is set to have the main-draw doubles and singles finals and the consolation singles finals.
Scouting the Competition
The Mids are scheduled to host Binghamton, Fairleigh Dickinson, George Mason, Johns Hopkins, Mary Washington, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure at the Moore Invitational … Six of the seven teams also attended the 2023 edition of the Moore Invitational, while Johns Hopkins competed at the 2022 Moore Invitational … Binghamton, Mary Washington, Monmouth and St. Bonaventure will all be competing in the Moore Invitational for the fourth-consecutive season dating back to 2021 … Navy faced St. Bonaventure (6-1 win), George Mason (7-0 win) and FDU (6-1 win) during the spring 2024 dual-match slate, with all three matches being played at the Tose Family Tennis Center.
Making History in 2023-24
Navy's berth in the 2024 NCAA Tournament came off a thrilling three-day stretch that saw the Mids capture their first Patriot League Championship en route to a 24-7 record … Just 15 years removed from becoming a varsity program, Navy claimed the league title on by pulling off marathon 4-3 wins over both rival Army and reigning champion Boston University in consecutive days after a delayed 4-0 victory against Bucknell in the quarterfinals … After then-junior
Parvathi Shanker outlasted the Black Knights' Paige Herremans in a three-hour, three-set singles match, her doubles partner and classmate
Kate Lee fought off a pair of match points to come back and win a third-set tiebreaker over the Terriers' Emily Zhao that handed Navy its first championship … The semifinal victory over the Black Knights also marked the first time in program history that Navy has defeated Army twice in a season.
Tannenbaum Chasing Records
Three-time All-Patriot League First Teamer and senior
Emily Tannenbaum was dominant last spring, setting four program records while closing in numerous other Navy records … Now sitting alone at third in program history with 86 career singles wins, Tannenbaum needs three more to catch Amanda Keller for second … Sitting second in program history with 153 career combined wins as well, Tannenbaum needs seven more to catch Keller for first … Ranking fourth in program history with 67 career doubles wins, Tannenbaum needs one more doubles victory to catch Claudia Mackenzie for third in the record books.
Captaining the Crew
Taking over the team captain duties this season is Lee, who is fresh off a breakout 2023-24 season that saw her take home the John "Pat" Rooney Award as the Patriot League's Championship MVP … Going 15-10 in overall singles play and tallying a 19-12 doubles mark alongside Shanker, Lee proved to be the clinching point in both the Patriot League Finals as well as Navy's Star-Match victory over Army during the regular season … The senior also picked up Patriot League Academic Honor Roll distinction for the spring 2024 semester.
Counting the Newcomers
Puryear and Pedergnana added six newcomers to the roster for this season, as the group of freshmen will challenge for playing time … A pair of five-star recruits in
Grace Li and
Emma Gu, along with four-starred
Molly Bellia, were all named 2023-24 High School All-Americans, with each earning the honor for the second time in their careers (Li and Gu in 2022-23, Bellia in 2021-22) … Li won back-to-back PIAA3A state singles championships in 2022 and 2023 and helped Unionville to a pair of team state runner-up finishes in Pennsylvania … Joining her brother Aaron of the Navy men's tennis team in Annapolis, Gu was the Indiana state singles runner-up in 2024 after leading Harrison to a team state semifinal appearance earlier in the spring … The Indiana state singles champion as a freshman in 2021, Bellia then led Saint Joseph to the 2024 team state championship as a senior after finishing as the state runners-up in 2021 and 2023 … A 2021-22 High School All-American and former four-star recruit as well,
Peyton Amspacher-Philemon joins the Mids after spending the 2023-24 at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I. … Another four-star recruit,
Vanessa Popescu arrives after finishing as the 2022 Virignia state doubles runner-up, while three-star recruit
Ji Soo Oh joins Navy from Saddlebrook Preparatory School.
Recapping the 2023 Moore Invitational
The 14th annual Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational had Navy earn three singles flights and a pair of doubles draws … Leading the way was
Olivia Fermo, who earned the Flight "D" singles title and partnered with
Makaila Cheng to claim the doubles "B" draw, while Tannenbaum dominated the top singles flight,
Samantha Johns notched her first career flight victory in the "B" singles bracket and the duo of
Sylvia Eklund and
Anna Jordaan grabbed the "C" doubles title.
Up Next
Navy will compete in the Commander-in-Chief's Challenge on Sept. 20-22, being held at the Army-Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va.
