Army Women’s Tennis Defeats Air Force

LAKE NONA, Fla. – Army West Point women’s tennis may have defeated Tampa one day earlier, but the big battle proved to be against rival Air Force on Saturday night under the Orlando lights.

Looking to win their third consecutive silver star over the Falcons at the USTA National Campus, the Black Knights gutted out multiple singles matches out to complete the 4-2 win, backed by a doubles point win early in the match.

Three completed matches went over two hours, with four total matches reaching a third set. Emily Ruckno recovered from a first set loss on singles court No. 4 to earn Army’s first singles team point and level the match at 2-2. Just minutes later, Stacey Samonte won her third set 6-3 to make it 3-2 Black Knights.

With all eyes now glued to singles courts No. 2 and 5, it was a race between Ylan Duong and Vennmukiil Mathivanan to clinch. Mathivanan’s match against Air Force’s Sofia Mavor remained on serve deep into the final set, before Mavor notched a break to pull ahead.

However, that match would go unfinished, as Duong would finish her match over Nadia Kojonroj to complete the 4-2 team win, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-3. Duong had to rally back from 2-0 down early in the third set, winning six of the final seven games to prevail.

Army extends its winning streak to three in the rivalry series played every other year.

Army’s senior class will leave the program with a 2-0 record against the Falcons.