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."
Navy Captures Women's Tennis Star
