ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Finding itself in a midweek battle against one of the toughest mid-major squads in the nation, the Navy women's tennis team (16-4) extended its winning streak to 11-straight matches with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Delaware (12-4) on Wednesday afternoon at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium.
 
After dropping a tightly-contested doubles point to a Blue Hens team that was ranked as high as No. 62 nationally this spring, the Midshipmen rallied in singles play by securing four straight-set victories to clinch its first win over Delaware since the 2019-20 season. Wednesday also saw sophomore Peyton Amspacher-Philemon push her own singles winning streak to 13 matches, tying her for the second-longest singles win streak in program history.
 
Delaware took an early 1-0 lead by securing the doubles point in a tiebreaking third flight. After Delaware's Maryia Hrynashka and Paulina Jurkowska won the No. 1 spot over junior Olivia Fermo and freshman Nicole Fu, 6-1, the Mids' second pairing of junior Anna Jordaan and sophomore Peyton Amspacher-Philemon answered with a 6-3 win against Amelia Gordan and Navya Vadlamudi. Coming down to No. 3 doubles, Delaware's Lara Russiniello and Katie Dollens rallied from a 5-2 hole to beat sophomore Grace Li and junior Julia Lee, 7-6 (7-2).
 
Hrynashka extended the Blue Hens' lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over sophomore Emma Gu at the top singles spot, but the Navy lineup responded by rattling off four consecutive points to keep its undefeated run alive.
 
Li quickly put the Mids on the board with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Gorman on the third court, while fellow sophomore Molly Bellia followed with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 4 over Russiniello, and the rookie Fu dispatched Jurkowska, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 2 position to give Navy its first lead of the day at 3-2. Amspacher-Philemon then delivered the clinching point for the Mids in the No. 5 flight, edging Vadlamudi by a 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) score to secure the team victory and continue her own personal run.
 
With the team result already decided, Delaware's Hanna Vinahradava claimed the final match of the day at No. 6 singles, defeating freshman Jina Cha in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) final.
 
Head Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"The ladies played a scrappy match today against a Delaware squad that is a tough and battle-tested group. Both teams fought like crazy, so it was good to see the ladies pull it out. We've got little time to reset as we need to prepare for the defending Patriot League champion Boston U. up in Boston this weekend."
 
Match Notes
• Navy moved to 9-6 in the all-time series with Delaware, notching its first win over the Blue Hens since a 7-0 win on Feb. 23, 2020.
• The Mids' current 11-match winning streak is tied for the fourth longest in program history.
• The current 11-match run is the longest since another 11-match win streak from Feb. 8 to March 8, 2020.
• Amspacher-Philemon becomes the fourth Navy player in program history to post a 13-match singles win streak.
• Amspacher-Philemon's streak is the longest in program history since Emily Tannenbaum's own 13-match winning streak from Oct. 27, 2023 to March 7, 2024.
• Li pushed her own singles winning streak to nine matches, marking the longest singles win streak of her career.
• Bellia also extended her own singles winning streak to six games.
 
Up Next
Navy will head to Winchester, Mass., taking on Boston U. in a 4:00 p.m. match on Saturday.