ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Sandwiched between a pair of lengthy homestands, the Navy women's tennis team (3-6) is set to travel south for a pair of matches in Florida this weekend, including a service academy rivalry showdown at one of the premier tennis facilities in the country.
 
Opening the southern trip with a 3 p.m. contest against Division II No. 20-ranked Tampa (2-0) on Friday afternoon at the Naimoli and Young Tennis Complex in Tampa, the Midshipmen will then trek back to Orlando for Saturday's 5 p.m. tilt against fellow service academy Air Force (4-3) at the USTA National Campus as part of the USTA's College MatchDay event.
 
College MatchDay Welcomes Navy
College MatchDay, a series of marquee neutral-site college tennis matches designed to showcase some of the nation's top collegiate tennis programs, returns to the USTA National Campus this weekend with a patriotic twist as both the men's and women's teams from Air Force and Navy will square off on Saturday evening … Navy will be making its second appearance at College MatchDay, debuting at the 2023 edition of the event … The day will feature a number of military-themed festivities, including a free tennis clinic for the kids of veterans prior to the match and a pre-match flyover … Navy often plays at the USTA National Campus for its yearly spring-break matches as well.
 
Last Time Out
Navy opened last weekend with a tough 7-0 home loss to Virginia Tech Saturday that saw the MIds barely lose the doubles point while senior Emily Tannenbaum and freshman Emma Gu force tiebreaking third sets in their singles matches … Dropping the doubles point to Villanova to start Sunday, Navy rebounded in singles play when Tannenbaum, Gu and rookies Grace Li and Molly Bellia all claimed their singles matches to earn the 4-3 team win and break the Mids' five-match losing skid, with Li and Bellia both outlasting their opponents in three-set battles … Dropping doubles again in Sunday's nightcap against Delaware, Navy forced a trio of third sets, but only sophomore Anna Jordaan was able to clinch their singles contest as the Blue Hens downed the Mids, 6-1.
 
Puryear Achieves Navy Milestone
With the doubleheader sweep to start the spring, head coach Keith Puryear reached the 300-win mark for his Navy tenure … Compiling a 301-107 (.748) record through 17 seasons at the helm of the Mids, Puryear has also posted a 516-239 mark as a women's coach between his time at UMBC and Navy … His 513 victories ranked 20th among Division I women's coaches all-time and 10th among active women's coaches at the DI level entering the spring season.
 
Mids in the National Rankings
Navy was well-represented in the national singles and doubles rankings put out by the ITA at the end of the fall, appearing three times … Slotted at No. 87 in the singles rankings was senior Emily Tannenbaum, with the Midshipmen having two doubles teams ranked as well … Tannenbaum and fellow senior Parvathi Shanker rated 51st on the doubles list, while the pairing of Tannenbaum alongside sophomore Olivia Fermo was slotted at 104th in the same rating list … Tannenbaum came in at No. 88 in the first singles rankings of the spring on Feb. 5, while the Tannenbaum/Shanker pairing rated No. 76 in the updated doubles rankings.
 
Tannenbaum Rewriting Record Book
Now holding two more spots in the Navy record book after setting the program records for career singles, doubles and combined wins during the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, Tannenbaum holds a total of six school records … Last spring, the then-junior set the program record for single-season singles wins (33) and career No. 1 singles victories (37) while also resetting a pair of program single-season records she had previously set, tallying 18 victories at the No. 1 singles spot and registering 55 combined wins over the course of the campaign.
 
Road Mids
Navy is 0-3 away from home this season and 38-41 on the road all-time … The Mids are much better in neutral-site matches, going 48-18 in those matches all-time … 2023-24 saw Navy go 0-5 in road matches but post a 3-1 neutral-site record.
 
Scouting Tampa
Ranked 20th in the latest Division II team rankings from the ITA, the Spartans are 2-0 after getting wins over Hillsborough CC and St. Petersburg College … Tampa tallied a 15-5 record last year, going 6-3 in conference play and earning a bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament before falling to Embry-Riddle in the first match of the South Regional … Victoria Sanchez returns after being named First Team All-SSC Doubles last season.
 
Scouting Air Force
The Falcons come to Florida with a 4-3 record and schedule for a Friday match against UCF … Air Force already owns wins over Montana, Metro State, Northern Iowa and Eastern Washington, with its losses coming to Colorado, Minnesota and Gonzaga … Junior Arianna Van Houweling and freshman Shivaani Selvan were named Mountain West Player and Freshman of the Week on Feb. 12, respectively… Selvan and Sofia Mavor are ranked as the No. 79 doubles pairing nationally by the ITA … Last season saw the Falcons post an 1-18 mark under new head coach Taylor Hollander.
 
Series Histories
Navy is 1-0 in the all-time series with both Tampa and Air Force, pulling off the back-to-back wins in 2023 … The 4-3 win at Tampa on Feb. 17, 2023 propelled the Mids the following day when they bested Air Force, 4-2, at the USTA National Campus.
 
Up Next
Navy will host Wake Forest on Feb. 21 before welcoming Towson and George Mason the next day for a doubleheader.