ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Coming off a pair of wins down south, the Navy women's tennis team (5-6) returns home to the Tose Family Tennis Center in Annapolis, Md., for three matches this weekend.
 
Opening a seven-match homestand that takes them into spring break, the Midshipmen welcome their second of three ACC opponents this season when Wake Forest (8-3) arrives in town Friday for a 1 p.m. opening serve. Navy will then have a quick turnaround when it hosts two regional foes on Saturday, with a 10 a.m. match against Towson (1-2) and a 2 p.m. showdown with George Mason (2-2).
 
Last Time Out
Navy went undefeated in its trip to Florida last weekend, picking up its first road victory of the season by beating Tampa, 5-2, on Friday afternoon before coming back the next evening to knock off rival Air Force, 4-2, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando … After claiming the doubles point with victories by its No. 1 and No. 3 pairings, Navy got singles wins from seniors Emily Tannenbaum and Parvathi Shanker and freshmen Emma Gu and Molly Bellia to close out the nationally-ranked Division II Spartans … Saturday's battle with Air Force saw the Mids once again win at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to take the early 1-0 lead, while singles wins from Shanker and Tannenbaum set up Gu to be the clincher, as the rookie outlasted Giovanna Sanchirico in a 7-5, 7-5 victory on the No. 5 court.
 
Tannenbaum Named PL Player of the Week
Going a combined 4-0 over the Mids' two wins last weekend, Tannenbaum was named the Patriot League Women's Tennis Player of the Week on Tuesday … Going a combined 4-0 between singles and doubles play, Tannenbaum was crucial in Navy's victories over Tampa and Air Force down in Florida … The award marks Tannenbaum's first Patriot League Player of the Week honor this season and the ninth time winning the award in her decorated Navy career … Tannenbaum claimed the league's weekly honor five times last spring.
 
Sisterly Showdown
Friday's match against Wake Forest will feature a familiar last name in the opposing lineup, as Emily Tannenbaum's younger sister, Kady, is a freshman starter for the Demon Deacons … Playing in the middle of the Wake Forest lineup, Kady holds identical 12-4 records in singles and doubles action as a rookie … The Tannenbaum's are not the only sisters that will see their teams face off this spring, as senior Sylvia Eklund is set to see twin sister Addie on the opposing squad when Navy travels to Colgate on March 29.
 
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 303-107 (.739) record through 17 seasons at the helm of the Mids, Puryear has also posted a 518-235 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. 92 in the latest singles rankings of the spring on Feb. 20.
 
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.
 
Scouting Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons used an early five-match winning streak to propel themselves to an 8-3 start … Wake Forest is coming off a Saturday doubleheader last week that saw the Deacs bested by South Carolina, 4-1, in the opener before bouncing back for a 4-0 win over Western Carolina in the nightcap … Brianna Baldi paces Wake Forest with a 13-3 overall singles mark, while Sankavi Gownder has a team-best 8-2 dual-season singles record … The younger Tannenbaum and Nevena Carton have partnered for a team-leading 12-4 doubles record … The Deacs also have a pair of talented graduate transfers, with former national-ranked Kentucky doubles player Makayla Mills and three-time All-Ivy League selection Anna Zhang from Columbia … Krystal Blanch is ranked No. 95 in the latest ITA national singles rankings, while Blanch and Mills are rated No. 75 in the doubles rankings.
 
Scouting Towson
The Tigers have had a slow start to the spring with a 1-2 mark and a Friday meeting with Johns Hopkins on tap before coming down to Annapolis … A 5-2 win over Rider in the fall gave Towson its first win of the season, but losses to Richmond and Maryland to begin the spring slate have followed …  Ashira Murray, Chandrè Boshoff, Kiersten Tambe and Gaia Montecchi all represented Towson at the ITA Atlantic Regionals in October … Towson had a 6-11 spring record last year.
 
Scouting George Mason
The Patriots are coming off a 7-0 win over Coppin State that moved George Mason to 2-2 on the season after a fall win over Monmouth and spring-opening losses to George Washington and Radford …  Nine members of the Patriots competed at the ITA Atlantic Regionals in the fall … George Mason finished last season at 5-17.
 
Series History
Friday will be the first all-time meeting with Wake Forest in program history … Navy is 13-0 in the all-time series with Towson, including back-to-back 7-0 wins in 2023 and 2024 … The Mids are also 13-0 against George Mason in the all-time series, posting four-straight 7-0 victories against the Patriots.
 
Up Next
Navy will host Long Beach State next Friday, Feb. 28, before welcoming Georgetown and Morgan State for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 1.