Tannenbaum breaks two records in Milwaukee, women's tennis wins three flights in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, MD. Led by the senior class that claimed three titles, the Navy women's tennis team wrapped up play this weekend after competing in the 48th Milwaukee Tennis Classic on Friday and Saturday, while also hosting the three-day Navy Blue & Gold Invitational in Annapolis.

Of Emily Tannenbaum her classmates broke a pair of program career records on Friday and then won the mixed doubles title in Milwaukee on Saturday, her classmates Sylvia Eklund And Parvathi Shanker were able to win the “A” and “B” singles on Sunday when they were sophomores Manci Pal was part of the double-winning duo “C” in Annapolis.

Milwaukee tennis classic recap

Playing at the Nicolet Tennis Center, Tannenbaum and sophomores Olivia Fermo started their weekend with a 6-3 victory over Marquette's Andie Weise and Emma Davis in the opening round of doubles, but fell 6-4 the next day to Oklahoma's Gloriana Nahum and Emma Ghirardato. The doubles victory gave Tannenbaum 161 combined career victories, surpassing Amanda Keller's previous program record of 160.

Heading into Friday's singles match, Tannenbaum picked up her program record 91st singles win when she defeated Houston's Sophie Schouten in a three-set battle, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, but fell to Juana Larranaga of Purdue in the round of 16 (4-6, 6-3, 6-3). For Fermo, she suffered a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Oklahoma's Roisin Gilheany in the first round before falling to Purdue's Fatima Gutierrez in a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 consolation match. Continuing from Saturday's consolation match, Tannenbaum was upended by Ghirardato to start the day 6-0, 6-3, while Fermo was defeated by Emma Kette of Ole Miss 6-2, 6-1.

The headliner of the Mids' stay in Milwaukee was an all-Navy pairing in the mixed doubles final, as Tannenbaum teamed with Aniketh Ayinala to defeat Fermo and JJ Etterbeek in the championship match that concluded Saturday.

Navy blue and gold abstract for invitations

The Mids had all three players in the “A” singles draw reach the semifinals, as Eklund defeated players from Georgetown and Villanova to set up a semifinal match with Georgetown's Emily Novikov, while sophomore Meet Cheng battled past players from Towson and Villanova to meet a rookie teammate Grace Li in the other semifinals after Li defeated competitors from Seton Hall and Georgetown. In the semifinals, Eklund defeated Novikov with a final of 1-6, 7-5, 10-1 and Li defeated Cheng 6-4, 6-1, while Eklund fought Li in the final for a 6-2, 2 -6. , 10-3 win.

In the “B” singles flight, Shanker knocked off players from Towson and George Washington to meet freshmen Emma Gu in the semifinals after Gu got past opponents from Villanova and Lehigh, with Shanker posting a 6-4, 6-1 semifinal victory against her teammate and then a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 victory achieved over the Hoyas' Natasha Kavarana in the finals. The senior captain also took part in the flight Kate Leewho fell to Mount St. Mary's Venus Tang in the opening round before winning against Towson's Ashira Murray and losing to Seton Hall's Ellie Coe in the consolation round.

The “C” draw saw freshmen Molly Bellia reached the semifinals by defeating Seton Hall's Isabelle May and Georgetown's Paige Gilbert before losing 6-3, 6-4 to Villanova's Olivia Corcoran, while sophomore Anna Jordan claimed the first-round win against Lehigh's Ronit Khromchenko, but a quarterfinal meeting with Georgetown's Carolyn dropped Schaefer, 6-4, 6-3.

Pal made it to the semifinals of the “D” singles flight as she held off players from GW and the Mount, but was eliminated by Villanova's Valieriia Kornieva, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 10-8, to end her weekend. Additionally, after falling in the opening round to Towson's freshman Sania Suchinsky Vanessa Popescu put together an excellent consolation series with victories over Lehigh's Hannah Letzer, Villanova's Savarin Seebald and GW's Alejandra Ramirez.

In the doubles action, Shanker and Lee teamed in the “A” flight, but fell in a match with Emma Perkins and Venus Tang of the Mount. In the “B” draw, Eklund and Jordaan teamed for an opening round victory over the Mount's Margherita Trolese and Amari O'Brien before falling to Villanova pair Kornieva and Madeline Hills, while freshman duo Bellia and Gu earned their lone dropped a loss. match with Towson's Olivia Rothfeld and Gaia Montecchi.

The “C” doubles draw featured three Navy players in the finals, while Li and Popescu paired up to earn victories over teams from Seton Hall and Towson to set up a title match against Pal, who teamed with GW's Madison Lee to beat pairs out of the. Mount, Villanova and Georgetown. In the final, Pal and Lee defeated Li and Popescu for a 6–1 win.

Head Coach Keith Puryear Comments

“We would like to thank Chas Mulcahy and all the volunteers and tournament organizers for their hard work in making this event the best experience it is. We would also like to thank our host family, Bill and Betsie Berrien, for their hospitality, as well as Skip and Sibylle Tasker .Congratulations to Emily and Olivia for reaching the mixed final, with Emily winning alongside Aniketh. Overall I thought the weekend had good performances from both Em and Liv used correctly us the opportunity to compete against Power-4 schools that we might not otherwise see.”

Associate coach Alessandra Pedergnana Comments

“We have achieved some impressive results in a very competitive tournament, so kudos to the ladies. Having two singles winners in Sylvia and Parvathi and a consolation winner in Vanessa is no mean feat. Congratulations to Grace for being a finalist and Manci who won the “C” flight doubles championship. Our goal was to improve throughout the fall and we feel like we are doing just that. We need to keep working on improving and using what we learned, not just this past weekend, but all fall so far. I'll be back to work on Tuesday and things will be better.”

Match notes

With 71 wins in doubles, Tannenbaum needs one more victory to tie Kaylah Hodge for the program record.
Tannenbaum now holds six career or single-season program records.

Next

Navy will send its four seniors to the San Diego Veterans Tennis Classic from Oct. 4-6.