ANNAPOLIS, Md. – It was a banner start to the 2024-25 season for the Navy women's tennis team, as the Midshipmen won seven of the eight combined flights at the 15th annual Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational on Sunday morning at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium and Tose Family Tennis Center.
 
With Navy players capturing all five main singles draws along with the "A" and "C" doubles brackets over the three-day tournament, the Mids were highlighted by senior Emily Tannenbaum claiming the "A" singles competition as well as partnering with sophomore Olivia Fermo to win the "A" doubles flight, while three different freshmen claimed at least a share of a draw victory in their first college action.
 
Singles Recap
In the "A" singles flight, Tannenbaum and fellow senior Parvathi Shanker surged their way to a semifinal showdown as Tannenbaum took down Addison Felts (Mary Washington) and Lia Melvin (Johns Hopkins) in the opening two rounds while Shanker got a straight-sets win over Binghamton's Natalia Aruj and three-set victory against FDU's Alena Kubanova. The semifinal battle saw Tannenbaum pick up the 6-3, 6-2 win over Shanker, then going on to defeat FDU's Anastasia Lim in the finals, 6-1, 6-0, to win her third-straight Moore Invitational "A" singles title. Also playing in the top singles draw, senior Sylvia Eklund scored a first-round win over Veda Prapurna in two sets but fell to Namie Isago of FDU in the quarterfinals, while Fermo was defeated by Lim in the opening round before exiting the singles competition.
 
Getting a first-round bye in the "B" singles draw, sophomore Makaila Cheng beat Tamara Bachmann (St. Bonaventure) and Yelena Kim (FDU) to reach the finals, then outlasting Johns' Hopkins' Ava LI to claim her first career flight title in a 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 battle. Freshman Grace Li nearly earned a chance to face Cheng in the finals, winning against SBU's Abbie Tyler and George Mason's Maya Bayat before falling to LI by a 6-3, 2-6, 10-5 score, while senior Kate Lee and sophomore Anna Jordaan both won their opening-round matches but dropped their quarterfinal contests against LI and Kim, respectively.
 
The "C" singles draw saw freshman Emma Gu post a trio of straight-set victories by knocking off Monmouth's Ximena Cano, Mason's Lauren Splett and JHU's Aubrey Zhou to set up a final match against FDU's Valentina Silva, where Gu held on for a 7-5, 4-6, 12-10 win to notch her first flight title as well. Falling a set shy of a semifinal meeting with Gu, sophomore Manci Pal tallied a first-round win against the Bonnies' Sienna Smith before being edged out by Zhou (6-2, 1-6, 10-8), while freshman Vanessa Popescu retired with an injury in her collegiate debut after going up 6-2 on Mason's Maitree Rout.
 
An all-Navy final in the "D" singles draw found sophomore Julia Lee pitted against freshman Molly Bellia, as Lee used straight-set wins over Mason's Brooklyn Siegel and Binghamton's Clara Arbeloa Lopez to clinch her spot while Bellia handily defeated Mason's Paige Massey and JHU's Zoe Hsieh to reach the title match. Lee ended up on top with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over her teammate to secure her first singles flight title.
 
Recovering from illness, freshman Peyton Amspacher-Philemon was able to pick up two-set victories over Binghamton's Julia Pedraza Palacios, FDU's Ann Kato and Monmouth's Rebecca Fisher to gain a finals matchup with Binghamton's Valeria Gonzalez, pulling out a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 win to complete the singles title sweep for the Mids.
 
Doubles Recap
The pairing of Tannenbaum and Fermo continued their success from last season with wins against the duos of Siegel and Mary Young then Melvin and Sydney Langer in the first two rounds, emphasizing their run with a 6-0 finals victory over Bachmann and her Bonnies teammate Isabella Venter to lock up the "A" doubles flight. In the same flight, Shanker and Kate Lee partnered to overcome a first-round defeat by beating Binghamton's Nitya Vyas and Kayla Castellano, 6-1, in consolation play.
 
Li and Julia Lee gave Navy a chance at winning all eight flights when they advanced to the "B" finals, knocking off Mary Washington's Linda Dimitroff and Jacey Copeland in the quarterfinals and the JHU pairing of Zhou and Sahana Senjeev in the semifinals, but the Mids fell in the finals, 6-1, to Massey and Bayat. The same draw saw Gu and Jordaan post a first-round win over FDU's Silva and Kim before being upended by JHU's LI and Kamila Wong in the quarterfinals.
 
Pairing together for wins against doubles teams from St. Bonaventure, Monmouth and Johns Hopkins, Eklund and Bellia came out on top of the "C" draw over teammates Cheng and Pal in a 6-4 victory, giving Navy its seventh title of the weekend.

Tournament Notes
• With her four singles victories on the weekend, Tannenbaum is now tied with Erin Snook for the most career singles wins in program history.
• With seven total victories on the weekend, Tannenbaum's 160 combined career wins are also tied for first in program history with Amanda Keller.
 
Head Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"It was great to get out and compete again. Of course, there are always things that we can improve and learn from and we will do just that, but, with this being our first event, I thought we showed quality play against some very good teams. We'll come back Tuesday and refocus on the commitment to our continued growth and progress."
 
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.