ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Continuing its surge towards postseason play by winning the penultimate match of the regular season, the Navy women's tennis team swept non-conference opponent Howard, 4-0, on Saturday at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium.
With the victory, the Midshipmen (19-5) pushed its overall winning streak to three matches and have posted 13-straight home wins, as the first and third doubles pairs claimed their courts while the bottom three singles flights all wrapped up straight-set victories to defeat the Bison (5-10).
The Mids secured the opening doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead, aided by sophomore
Grace Li and junior
Julia Lee setting the tone at the No. 3 spot with a dominant 6-1 victory over Chloe Goins and Dana Hall. After Howard's Lauren Oliver and Franchesca Brown leveled the doubles action by defeating sophomore
Peyton Amspacher-Philemon and junior
Anna Jordaan, 6-3 on the second court, junior
Olivia Fermo and freshman
Nicole Fu clinched the point with a 6-3 win over Camille Hall and Imani Jean at the top billing.
Navy carried that momentum into singles play with sophomore
Molly Bellia leading the charge at the No. 4 flight, dropping just one game in a swift 6-0, 6-1 win over Dana Hall. Rookie
Jina Cha then extended the Mids' lead to 3-0 by dispatching Goins, 6-3, 6-3, at the No. 6 position.
Continuing her torrid singles run, Amspacher-Philemon provided the match-clinching point at the No. 5 court, defeating Selah Stibbins by a 6-3, 6-3 score to seal the sweep.
The remaining three singles matches were left unfinished once the team outcome was decided, with Navy sophomore
Emma Gu leading Jean, 6-2, 6-5, and on the verge of victory when play was halted at the No. 1 spot.
Head Coach Keith Puryear Comments
"Today's match was a good precursor to our impending match against Colgate. At this point of the year, everyone is preparing for conference matches and conference championships, so it's important to be sharp. I thought Howard played tough, inspired ball today and we competed well from start to finish. We continue to make major strides towards our continued improvement. We'll continue to look to clean up a few areas in preparation for our last regular season match tomorrow."
Game Notes
• Navy is now 12-2 in the all-time series with Howard, winning its 10-straight match in the series.
• With a 17-1 home record so far this spring, Navy has reached 17-or-more home wins in six different seasons since the program became varsity.
• Li and Lee won their third straight doubles match together, while Bellia and Amspacher-Philemon both moved their singles win streaks to three matches.
Up Next
Navy hosts Patriot League foe Colgate in the regular-season finale on Sunday, with first serve set for 11:00 a.m.
