For the second year in a row, sophomore Emily Tannenbaum took home the Most Valuable Player award in the Navy women’s tennis team’s end-of-year awards announced by head coach Keith Puryear and associate head coach Alessandra Pedergnana.
Tannenbaum led the team in singles and doubles wins for the second consecutive season and tied the program record with 29 singles victories while also tallying 22 doubles victories that put her eighth in the program’s single-season record books. She also established a new program record with 51 combined victories. Tannenbaum’s 16 singles victories in the No. 1 position surpassed the previous program record, while also being named Patriot League Player of the Week twice.
Freshman Sia Chaudry was named the Mids’ Rookie of the Year after finishing second on the team at 24 singles wins, including being the clinching singles point in both Navy’s first-ever win over Air Force and the 2023 Star Match against Army, while also garnering Patriot League Player of the Week on two occasions. Fellow freshman Hanna Elks Smith and sophomore Kate Lee shared honors as the Most Improved Players. Rounding out the accolades were junior Samantha Johns claiming the Unsung Hero Award and senior captain Casey Accola receiving the team’s Leadership Award.
Smith racked up an impressive 17-4 singles record for a .810 winning percentage that stands as the ninth best in program single-season history, going 7-1 in dual-match competition, and notching seven doubles victories. Tallying 12 singles wins and 14 doubles victories, Lee finished the campaign with an 11-3 dual-match singles mark that included posting a perfect 6-0 record on the No. 6 singles court, ending the season by winning six of her last nine completed singles matches.
Coming back from an injury that kept her out all of the fall, Johns returned in the spring dual-match season to go 8-3 in singles play and 13-5 in doubles competition. Working her into the No. 1 pairing alongside Tannenbaum, the duo went 10-5 as a doubles team and won five of their first seven matches as a pairing.
Accola helped guide the team through winning streaks of eight and nine straight dual matches while racking up her own seven-match singles win streak from March 13 to April 12. The future Marine Corps pilot also notched 10 doubles dual-match wins for Navy, including the 3-1 record alongside Chaudry in league play. Wrapping up her time as a Mid with a 43-24 career singles record, Accola posted a career-high 18 singles wins and matched her career-best with 19 doubles victories during her final season.
The Navy women’s tennis team finished the season with an impressive 19-6 overall record and 4-1 in the Patriot League while putting multiple entries in the program record books. The Mids have reached at least the semifinal round in each of their 13 trips to the Patriot League Tournament, won four of the last five Star Matches with Army, and claimed the first-ever meeting against fellow service academy Air Force.
The end-of-year awards signify the team’s achievements throughout the season and recognize the players’ hard work and dedication to the sport. The Navy women’s tennis team looks forward to building on its success in the upcoming season.