ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Highlighted by freshman Mary Cain Webster reaching another singles finals match, a short-handed Navy women's tennis team wrapped up its weekend at the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational on Sunday in Annapolis, Md.
 
Hosted by the Midshipmen at the Fluegel-Moore Tennis Stadium and Tose Family Tennis Center, Navy had representatives in three different singles semifinals as well as in each semifinal of the "B" doubles draw. After capturing her singles draw last weekend at the Bill & Sandra Moore Invitational, Webster pulled out three more singles wins in the "C" singles draws before falling in the championship, while junior Molly Bellia also put together a strong weekend by reaching the semifinal round of both the "C" singles and "B" doubles draws.
 
Singles Recap
In the top singles flight, sophomore Nicole Fu started well with a first-round win over UNCW's Simay Keles but lost a three-set battle with Sofia Maria Barbulescu in the quarterfinals, while junior Peyton Amspacher-Philemon rebounded after an opening loss to Villanova's Olivia Corcoran by posting a 4-0, 2-4, 10-8 consolation win against Lucia Gomez of UNCW.
 
Being the lone Navy player in the "B" draw, senior Manci Pal used a 7-5, 6-1 win over Richmond's Madeline Kroupetski to advance to the quarterfinals, where she eventually fell to Younsoo Cho of St. John's.
 
Racing to the "C" finals with straight-set victories against William & Mary's Alexia Gonzalez-Galino, Riley Cicero of Villanova and Richmond's Abby Lee, Webster had her run stopped by the Spiders' Beatriz Guerra, 6-4, 6-1, in the championship match. Also reaching the semifinals, Bellia posted wins over George Washington's Devika Manu and the Tribe's Medha Chandana before being beat by Guerra, 6-0, 6-4, to deny an all-Navy final.
 
Rounding out the Mids in the "D" singles draw, sophomore Jina Cha tallied notched wins over the Tribe's Julia Viesi and Nova's Olivia Kutlova to get to the semifinals, where she was upended by Richmond's Lainey O'Neil, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
 
Doubles Recap
Representing Navy in the "A" doubles flight, Fu and Amspacher-Philemon were stopped in the first round by Barbulescu and Richmond teammate Lucy Webber, 7-6 (2).
 
The Mids then had both pairings in the "B" draw make it to the semifinals, as Webster and senior Julia Lee tallied wins over GW's Manu and Laziza Talipova and then Richmond's Guerra and Daniela O'Leary, but were defeated by Chandana and her Tribe teammate Tilda Larsson, 6-3. Reaching the other semifinal, Bellia and Pal beat the duos of Howard's Lyric Wilson and Chloe Goins and GW's Vaida Matuseviciute and Alexandra Lindqvist before losing a 6-4 decision to Richmond's O'Neil and Kroupetski.
 
Up Next
Navy will send a contingent of four players to the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic on Oct. 2-4.