ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Facing its first of three ACC opponents this season, the Navy women's tennis team was unable to leverage its home-court advantage Saturday evening, suffering a 7-0 loss to Virginia Tech at the Tose Family Tennis Center.

Despite narrowly falling in a pair of doubles matches and sending two singles battles to third sets, the Midshipmen shifted to 2-5 on the spring, while the Hokies extended their winning streak to six matches and improved to a 6-1 season record.

After the No. 67-nationally-ranked doubles team in Ozlem Uslu and Charlotte Cartledge prevailed, 6-1, over the top Navy pairing of senior Emily Tannenbaum and freshman Emma Gu, the Mids tried to hold out hope on the other two doubles courts as time wore on.

Forcing a tiebreaker, the third Navy pair of senior Parvathi Shanker and freshman Grace Li were eventually downed by Semra Aksu and Linda Ziets-Segura, 7-6 (7-3), while the Hokies' Arina Gamretkaia and Tara Gorinsek outlasted senior Sylvia Eklund and sophomore Anna Jordaan, 7-5, on the second court to clinch the doubles point for VT.

Laima Frosch then opened singles play by beating Li, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 5 spot, while a quick string of Hokie wins by Aksu, Gamretkaia and Gorinsek gave Virginia Tech the team win. With Aksu defeating senior Kate Lee, 6-4, 6-2, in the No. 3 slot, Gamretkaia followed with a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Shanker on the fourth court and Gorinsek handled Eklund on the second court for a 6-1, 6-2 win.

In a battle between two ranked foes at the top of the lineup, the 88th-ranked Tannenbaum got off to a good start against No. 28-rated Uslu, but the Hokies' top player rallied to pull out a 1-6, 6-3, 10-7 victory. Closing out the evening were Gu and Cartledge in the No. 6 spot, with Cartledge holding off Gu for a 6-1, 5-7, 10-8 win to complete the team sweep.

Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"Today was a matter of creating and capitalizing on opportunities when they came. In every match, we had those opportunities but Tech did a better job on their end. This schedule is the toughest early-season swing in the history of the program. Our losses are coming against teams who are regionally ranked or just outside of the top ten in the region. We see the ladies' improvement and know that we must keep learning and adjusting to what's being asked of us in each match. If we continue to do that, we'll be in great shape. Tomorrow's doubleheader has much of the same challenges that today's match held. Delaware is another regionally-ranked program and Villanova is always tough. We're looking forward to taking another step to our improvement."

Match Notes
• Navy is now 0-2 in the all-time series with Virginia Tech.
• Saturday's singles match with Uslu marked Tannenbaum's first ranked opponent of the season.
• The Mids are now 0-2 against ranked doubles pairings this season.
• Saturday also marked the first time Tannenbaum and Gu have partnered together.

Up Next
Navy will host two matches on Sunday at the Tose Family Tennis Center, playing Villanova at 10 a.m. before turning around to face Delaware at 2 p.m.