ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Highlighted by a pair of singles draw champions on Sunday, the Navy women's tennis team put together a successful weekend at the 17th annual Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational in Annapolis, Md.
 
Hosted by the Midshipmen at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium and Tose Family Tennis Center, Navy had representatives in each of the five singles draws' championship matches as well as the "B" doubles finals. With junior Molly Bellia earning the "C" singles crown and freshman Mary Cain Webster winning the "D" singles flight, the Mids also had senior Manci Pal rebound to claim victory in the "B" singles consolation bracket.
 
Singles Recap
In the "A" singles flight, junior Emma Gu battled her way to the top draw's finals by beating George Mason's Marianna Pirmatova and Addison Felts of Mary Washington in straight sets and earning a three-set win over Morgan State's Michaela Stephens, but Gu's run ended in the championship with a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Aida Eissa of Maryland. The top flight also saw junior Peyton Amspacher-Philemon take down Tyler Williams of Morgan State to open the weekend before falling to the Terps' Mila Mulready, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.
 
The "B" singles draw had junior Grace Li find her way to the championship with straight-set wins over Monmouth's Faith Sadgrove and Mason's Maya Bayat and a three-setter over Lehigh's Alina Shyani, but an injury forced Li to withdraw from the finals against the Mountain Hawks' Claire Macedo. While Pal dropped her first match to Kamora Helton of Delaware State, she worked her way to the "B" consolation crown by defeating Mason's Shivaani Ganesh, 6-2, 6-1, and DSU's Alba Benedito, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Breezing her way to become the "C" singles champion, Bellia shut out Evelyn Snyder of Mary Washington in the quarterfinals, 6-0, 6-0, and picked up a 6-0, 6-2 semifinal win over Morgan State's Angelina Joao, claiming the finals when George Mason's Rowan Scronce walked over due to injury.
 
Webster started her march to the "D" crown by knocking off UMW's Rita Taylor, Lehigh's Ronit Khromchenko and the Patriots' Gray Feaster in straight-set wins, and then earned the title with a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 victory over Roua Lime of Morgan State. Also competing in the draw, senior captain Julia Lee posted a 6-1, 6-0 win over UMW's Abiela Wang in the first round before exiting the tournament due to injury before facing Feaster in the quarterfinals.
 
The lone Navy entrant in the "E" singles draw, junior Ji Soo Oh got wins over Monmouth's Jillian Gray and Mary Washington's Olivia Geoghegan before falling in the championship to the Hornets' Kayla Wright, 6-1, 6-4.
 
Doubles Recap
Entering four pairings into the "B" doubles draw and seeing three of them reach the semifinals, Navy had Li and sophomore Anna Wiskowski get to the finals. Notching wins over Lehigh's Audrey Harrington and Skye Yonehara and a fellow Navy pairing of Lee and Amspacher-Philemon, 7-6 (3), Li and Wiskowski were upended in the championship match by Williams and her Morgan State teammate of Amira Bergaoui, 6-3.
 
Lee and Amspacher-Philemon themselves got to the semifinals by beating Monmouth's Emilia Julin and Brielle Quaye and the DSU duo of Helton and Ailyn Leon, while Gu and Bellia reached the other semifinal by defeating UMW's Sophia Broomall and Brianna Stewart in the quarters but had their run ended by Williams and Bergaoui, 6-4. Also competing, Pal and Webster lost in the quarterfinals to Williams and Bergaoui but recovered for a 6-2 consolation victory against Broomall and Stewart.
 
Up Next
Staying home next weekend, the Mids will host the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational on Sept. 25-27.