ANNAPOLIS, Md. – With players spanning two time zones, the Navy women's tennis team wrapped up play this weekend after competing in the 49th Milwaukee Tennis Classic on Thursday and Friday in Wisconsin while also hosting the three-day Navy Blue & Gold Invitational back in Annapolis.
 
While sophomores Molly Bellia and Emma Gu posted a 4-4 combined record in Milwaukee, the Midshipmen also found success at home with freshman Nicole Fu claiming the "D" singles draw and a pair of Navy players reaching singles consolation finals.
 
Milwaukee Tennis Classic Recap
Playing at the Western Racquet Club, Bellia and Gu opened the tournament with a 6-4 doubles loss to Wisconsin's Ellison Reynoldson and Maya Bordereau, while a consolation battle with Sarah Millard and Hanmare McAslin of Arkansas State resulted in a 6-3 defeat. The Navy duo did finish doubles play strong, scoring a 7-6 (8) victory over another Arkansas State pairing in Anna Grigoreva and Meghna Arun Kumar.
 
In the singles bracket, Bellia notched a round-of-64 win over Western Michigan's Sienna Osborne, 6-2, 6-1, while Gu dropped her opening-round match to Grigoreva, 6-1, 6-2. Bellia's main-draw run ended in the round-of-32 with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to FGCU's Ashley Matz, but Gu made a run in the consolation bracket with wins over Western Michigan's Audrey Smitek, 6-1, 7-5, and Evelyn Risner of Miami (Ohio), 6-1, 7-6 (3), before the consolation bracket as canceled.
 
Navy Blue & Gold Invitational
Hosting seven teams at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium and Tose Family Tennis Center, Navy had Fu win the "D" singles crown and reach the "A" doubles semifinal round alongside junior Olivia Fermo, while junior Julia Lee reached the "C" singles consolation finals and sophomore Ji Soo Oh fought her way into the "D" singles consolation finals.
 
Sophomore Grace Li represented the Mids in the "A" singles flight, as an injury walkover following a first-round win over Villanova's Miriam Gondorova, 6-1, 6-2, ended her weekend prematurely.
 
In the "B" singles draw's first round, Fermo posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Seton Hall's Jaden Davidson and freshman Sydney Fuger matched it with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-2 win over Johns Hopkins' Isabel He, but both Navy players fell in the quarterfinals with Fermo dropping a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Villanova's Lauren Monti and Fuger suffering a 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 10-7 defeat to Jenna Stevens of Villanova.
 
With four Mids in the "C" singles draw, juniors Anna Jordaan and Manci Pal and freshman Jina Cha all posted first-round victories before losing their quarterfinal showdowns, while Lee battled back after an opening-round loss to GW's Alexandra Lindqvist by notching wins over Riley Cicero (Villanova) and Gabriela Glickstein (UNCW) in the back-draw before falling, 6-4, 6-3, to Villanova's Emily Callahan in the consolation finals.
 
Fu's "D" singles flight win started with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over GW's Laziza Talipova before defeating UNCW's Katelyn Hubbard, 6-1, 6-0, and Buffalo's Liv Roestel to reach the finals, where Fu outlasted UNCW's Sophia Catino in a 6-1, 7-6 (3) match. Also in the draw, freshman Anna Wiskowski beat Howard's Lauren Oliver before falling to Catino in the quarterfinal round, while Oh overcame a quarterfinal loss to Seton Hall's Ellie Coe with a win over Villanova's Olivia Kutlova before being beat by Kutlova's teammate Alina Kornyeva in the consolation finals, 7-5, 6-1.
 
In the top doubles draw, Fu and Fermo racked up wins over Howard's Dana Hall and Franchesca Brown, 6-1, and UNCW's Simay Keles and Alicia Eberwein, 6-4, before dropping a 6-2 semifinal match with Buffalo's Esmee Andresen and Maria Glowacka.
 
The "B" doubles draw had Lee and Fugar fall in the quarterfinals to Davidson and her Seton Hall teammate Niamh Campbell, 7-5, while the Navy duos of Pal/Jordan and Cha/Wiskowski each fell in the first round of the "C" draw alongside the inter-team pairing of Oh and Talipova.

Head Coach Keith Puryear Quote
"Congratulations to Nicole on her first tournament flight win. This weekend gave us a chance to see where we are as a team. We saw a lot that lets us know that we are going in the right direction. We're looking forward to the Veterans Classic in San Diego."
 
Up Next
Navy will send its four juniors to the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic from Oct. 3-5.