ORLANDO, Fla. – Facing a pair of quality opponents Wednesday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., the Navy women's tennis team started its spring break by posting a 5-2 win over Quinnipiac in the afternoon before having its comeback fall short in a 4-2 evening loss to Middle Tennessee.
 
The Wednesday split moved the Midshipmen to 10-9 on the season, while the Bobcats shifted to 2-7 and the Blue Raiders improved to 10-5 overall.
 
Quinnipiac Recap
Navy opened the afternoon by securing a quick double point against QU, as the freshman duo of Peyton Amspacher-Philemon and Ji Soo Oh posted a 6-1 win over the No. 3 pairing of Trista Caffyn-Parsons and Vera Sekerina, while the second court saw senior Sylvia Eklund and rookie Emma Gu defeat the Bobcats' Jordan Bradley and Anagha Shankar, 6-1. Playing out No. 1 doubles, QU's Willow Renton and Caitlin Flower pulled away for a 7-5 victory against senior Kate Lee and freshman Julia Lee.
 
Navy continued to add points when senior Emily Tannenbaum started singles play with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Renton on the top court, while sophomore Olivia Fermo was victorious, 6-3, 6-2, over Sekerina in the No. 4 spot. Amspacher-Philemon then clinched Navy's 10th win of the spring when she beat Ella Lewis, 6-3, 6-1, in the sixth flight.
 
Quinnipiac got on the board with Caroline Schulson's 7-5, 6-4 victory over Oh at the No. 5 slot, while Eklund scored Navy's fifth point with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-3 win against Shankar in the No. 3 flight and Flower picked up a 7-5, 6-4 victory against freshman Grace Li on the second court.
 
Middle Tennessee Recap
The night-time showdown found the Blue Raiders striking first via a 6-0 win by the No. 2 pairing of Alessia Truden and Rutuka Chaphalkar over Li and senior Parvathi Shanker, but Navy evened doubles action with Tannenbaum and Fermo notching the 6-2 victory against Eloise Swarbrick and Lena Peyer. Coming down to the third court, Ilaria Sposetti and Cassidy Mataia edged out the Mids' duo of freshman Molly Bellia and sophomore Manci Pal, 7-5, lock up the doubles point for MTSU.
 
Turning to singles, Mataia kicked it off with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Pal on the fifth court and Sposetti followed with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Shanker in the No. 2 spot. Gu got Navy back in it by defeating Sara Conde, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in the No. 4 position and Kate Lee continued the roll with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Zenn Lim in the sixth flight.
 
Rallying in the No. 3 position, Bellia forced a tiebreaker in the third set after dropping the opening set but eventually fell to Peyer, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), to seal Middle Tennessee's victory.
 
Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"Two great battles today. We did a good job in both of adjusting to outdoor tennis conditions. While the second one didn't quite go our way, we played courageously in both matches, which I feel is a good precursor for our upcoming Patriot League matches."
 
Match Notes
• Navy is now 4-0 in the all-time series with Quinnipiac and 0-1 in the all-time series with Middle Tennessee.
• Tannenbaum needs five more doubles wins to break the program single-season record of 24.
• Tannenbaum also needs three more wins at the No. 1 doubles spot to break the program career record of 23.
• Tannenbaum and Amspacher-Philemon have both won their last three completed singles matches.
 
Up Next
Navy opens its Patriot League slate with road matches on back-to-back days, playing at Lehigh on March 22 and at Bucknell on March 23.