ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Ramping up efforts to defend its 2024 Patriot League title, the Navy women's tennis team (10-9, 0-0 PL) opens league play this weekend on the road, playing Lehigh (7-3, 0-0 PL) on Saturday at the Lewis Indoor Tennis Center in Bethlehem, Pa., before trekking to face Bucknell (5-6, 0-1 PL) on Sunday afternoon at the Central PA Tennis Center in South Williamsport, Pa.
 
Starting a stretch of six-straight league matches, the Midshipmen are set for an 11 a.m. opening serve Saturday with the Mountain Hawks, while the Sunday showdown with the Bison is slated for 12 noon.
 
Last Time Out
The Mids split a spring break doubleheader last Wednesday, picking up a 5-2 win over Quinnipiac before suffering a 4-2 defeat to Middle Tennessee at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. … Against the Bobcats, Navy's second and third pairings picked up wins to secure the doubles point, while seniors Emily Tannenbaum and Sylvia Eklund, sophomore Olivia Fermo and freshman Peyton Amspacher-Philemon all nabbed singles victories to lead the Mids to their 10th win of the season … In the nightcap with the Blue Raiders, Tannenbaum and Fermo claimed the top doubles court but MTSU won the other two matchups to grab the doubles point, while freshman Emma Gu and senior captain Kate Lee won their singles contests to earn the Mids' two points … Tannenbaum and Amspacher-Philemon have both won their last three completed singles matches … The Tannenbaum/Fermo and Eklund/Gu pairings have each won their last three doubles matches as well.
 
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. 117 in the latest singles rankings of the spring on March 18.
 
Tannenbaum Rewriting Record Book
Now holding three 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 seven 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 … Tannenbaum needs five more doubles wins to break the program single-season record of 24 set by Amanda Keller, Kaylah Hodge and Claudia Mackenzie during the 2017-18 campaign … Tannenbaum also needs three more wins at the No. 1 doubles spot to break the program career record held by Hodge and Keller at 23 top-doubles victories.
 
Puryear Achieves Navy Milestone
With a doubleheader sweep to start the spring slate, head coach Keith Puryear reached the 300-win mark for his Navy tenure … Compiling a 308-110 (.737) record through 17 seasons at the helm of the Mids, Puryear has also posted a 523-237 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.
 
Scouting Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks enter league play with a 7-3 record, winning three of their last four matches … After beating LIU at home, Lehigh took a spring-break trip to California that saw the team knock off UC Riverside, fall to UC Irvine and claim victory against Concordia-Irvine … The Mountain Hawks also posted a four-match winning streak earlier in the spring with victories over Rider, Hofstra, Mount St. Mary's and Saint Joseph's … Hamsa Javagal and Maggie Forkner both return for the Mountain Hawks after earning All-Patriot League Second Team honors last spring, as the duo helped Lehigh to a 14-8 overall mark that tied the program record for wins, going 4-4 in league action.
 
Scouting Bucknell
The Bison begin the weekend at 5-6 with a Saturday match at Saint Francis on deck before welcoming the Mids … A three-match winning streak for Bucknell was snapped at the start of its spring-break trip to Florida, falling 4-0 to league foe Boston U. and then suffering another loss to Florida Southern before rebounding with a 4-0 win against Southeastern … Back-to-back All-Patriot League First Teamer Whitney King has a team-best 11-3 singles record this season, including a 5-1 mark on the top court this spring … King and Abby Platt have a team-leading 13-5 doubles mark, going 9-2 in the spring so far … The Bison went 10-13 last season with a 2-5 conference mark.
 
Series History
Navy holds an 16-0 record over Lehigh in the all-time series, with last season's meeting being a 6-1 Mids win in Annapolis … Navy is 18-2 all-time against Bucknell, including a 5-1 mark in Lewisburg … Last season saw the Mids post a 6-1 home win over Bucknell in the regular season before scoring a 4-0 victory in the league quarterfinals.
 
Up Next
Navy will continue its Patriot League road swing with a March 29 match at Colgate.