WEST POINT, N.Y. – Just like she did against Air Force two months ago, freshman Sia Chaudry clinched the Navy women's tennis team's 4-3 Star Match victory over rival service academy Army on Saturday at the Lichtenberg Tennis Center.
With the win, Navy moved to 15-4 on the season and remains undefeated at 3-0 in Patriot League action, while Army shifted to 18-7 overall and 3-1 in league play.
The Midshipmen capturing the women's tennis Star along with the men's and women's outdoor track & field Stars on Saturday also clinched the 2022-23 Army-Navy Star Series presented by USAA in Navy's favor, as the Mids have now won the Star Series for the 39th time in the past 45 years (39-4-2)
Navy set the tone early in doubles play, as the sophomore duo of Kate Lee and Parvathi Shanker scored a 6-1 win over Julia Kelly and Jenna Sabile on the third court. Chaudry and senior captain Casey Accola then secured the doubles point for the Mids when the pairing pulled out a 6-4 victory against Isabella Brilliant and Maria Drobotova at the No. 2 spot, leaving the top match between sophomore Emily Tannenbaum and junior Samantha Johns of Navy and the Army team of Cooper Jackson and Paige Herremans abandoned at 6-6 (tied 3-3 in the tiebreaker).
In singles competition, Army jumped in front with a pair of wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots, as Drobotova knocked off the No. 2 Navy player in junior Stella Ribaudo by a 6-2, 6-1 final, while Ylan Duong beat Shanker with back-to-back 6-2 sets.
Tannenbaum brought the match even with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jackson at the top position, while Emma Sy notched a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Johns on the fifth court to retake the lead for Army. Despite dropping the first set to Kelly, Accola bounced back to tie the match at 3-3 with a three-set win (0-6, 6-4, 6-3), leaving Chaudry and Gilbert as the last ones battling on the No. 3 court.
Chaudry finally finished off Gilbert after two close sets, clinching the Navy win with a 7-5, 6-4 singles victory. It marks the second time this season Chaudry proved to be the clinching singles point against a rival service academy, as her three-set win over Isabella Flodin on Feb. 18 closed out Navy's 4-2 victory against Air Force as part of the USTA College MatchDay in Orlando, Fla.
Keith Puryear Post-Match Comments
"Hats off to our ladies for the way they battled today for the N star. Every single member played a part in this battle! It was a tough, tough match with some extreme ebbs and flows that we had to navigate, and Army brought out a big crowd with a ton of energy that we also had to overcome. Doubles was clutch, with Parvathi and Kate coming up huge at No. 3 to get the first win. Sia and Casey then secured us the point, with Emily and Sam battling in a tie breaker."
"We showed a lot of character to get the three wins in singles. Emily won the first then Army fought back to go up 3-1 in the second set, but Emily remained resolute and resilient as she fought back to win in straight sets. Sia's match was a tough straight-set win, too. She did well to battle the crowd and a good run by the Army player to close it out for us, but probably the key match was the one Casey played. After losing the first set, she did a great job of problem-solving and batting to get the next two sets and get us the third point of the match, giving Sia the opportunity to close."
"Today was a good win but we must continue the journey that lies ahead for us with two more PL matches, one non-conference match against a very good Georgetown team, a senior day contest versus LIU and then the PL tournament back at Army. They all loom in the very near future and we will be ready."
