ANNAPOLIS, MD. - The Wildcats completed their fall season with some quality play at the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational.
 
The three days of competition, hosted by The US Naval Academy, kicked off on Friday September 30, in a tournament bracket split up into two doubles flights and four singles flights. The doubles flights begin with 16 draw brackets in each flight of A and B. The singles flights started the first round with 32 individual players in each flight of A, B, C, and D. There were 65 players competing coming from the following schools: Navy, FDU, Georgetown, UNC-Wilmington, Villanova, and William and Mary.

On day one of the Villanova Invitational their first outing resulted in three Villanova doubles teams advancing to the second round out of the two flights and five individual Villanova players to advance to the second round in the four flights.
 
In doubles flight A the two teams of Wildcats had split decisions. The pair of freshman, Maggie Gehrig and Emi Callahan were sent home early in the first round after falling to Emily Tannenbaum and Stella Ribaudo in a 6-2 loss. The other Villanova team in the mix, the duo of sophomores Emma Brogan and Valieriia Kornieva were successful in their first outing taking down Sofiya Kuzina and Emma Fernald in a 3-6 win.
 
In doubles flight B two of the three teams of Wildcats made it through to the second round of play. The set of senior captains Caitlin Fisher and Taylor Gould were granted a 'BYE' for the first round and automatically advanced to the second round. The team of sophomore Chloe Floyd and freshman Savie Seebald had a close fight with Jillian Taggart and Christina Danford but ultimately fell in a 4-6 loss. The team of senior captain Amanda Rivera-González and junior Bella Steffen were forced into a tie breaker but came out with the 7-6 (7-4) win over Sia Chaudry and Parvathi Shanker.
 
An unlucky singles flight A and B outing for the Wildcats as all players were sent packing early on. In flight A Brogan fell to Raffaela Alhach in a 3-6, 2-6 loss. Gehrig was defeated by Lauren Gish in a 1-6, 4-6 loss. In flight B Kornieva had a long-fought battle against Jillian Taggart going into a tie breaker but in the end falling in a 3-6, 6-2, 7-10 loss. Fisher also fell in a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Ine Stange.
 
Single flights C and D lead to more success for the Wildcats with multiple players advancing to the second round. Steffen was automatically advanced to the second round as she was provided a 'BYE'. Rivera-González faced off against Yaelle Vaissaud and was victorious in a tough 4-6, 6-4, 12-10 win. In flight D the whole flight was given a 'BYE' and moved onto to the second round. The Wildcats to compete in flight D were Floyd, Gould, and Seebald.
 
In the second round of doubles flight A lone Wildcat team of Brogan and Kornieva took a clean 0-6 win over Anna Daniels and Meredith Taylor moving them onto the third round. In flight B the two Villanova teams split the decision with only one team advancing to the third round. Steffen and Rivera-González had a close match up against McHaley Ho and Agata Mikos but fell in a 5-7 loss. Fisher and Gould defeated Lauren Robbins and Gabriela Glickstein in a 6-2 win advancing them to the third round.
 
In the second round of singles flight C only one of the two remaining Wildcat players advanced to the third round. Rivera-González went up against Taylor Meredith and fell in a close 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 loss. Steffen faced off against Parvathi Shanker and took the victory in a 6-1, 3-6, 10-6 tie breaker win. In flight D of singles, the lone Wildcat Gould was victorious against her opponent Calista Daligawer in an easy 6-1, 6-0 win advancing her to the third round.
 
Day two of the tournament was a tough day for the Wildcats as it ended their run in the tournament. In doubles flight A the last team of Brogan and Kornieva were bested by Avantika Willy and Alisia Manolescu after forcing a tie breaker but fell in the end in a 6-7 (2-7) loss. Fisher and Gould were also defeated by Jillian Taggart and Christina Danford in a 6-1 loss in flight b of doubles play.
 
Both singles flight of C and D had similar outcomes as the doubles rounds as both remaining Wildcats time was cut short in the tournament. In flight C Steffen faced off against Stela Joksimovic and after a hard-fought battle into a tie breaker ultimately met her match in a 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 loss. In flight D Gould took on Hanna Elks Smith and similar to her fellow teammate forced a tie breaker and put up a strong fight but also took a 4-6, 7-5, 10-3 loss ending the Wildcats run at the Navy Blue and Gold Invitational.
 
The Wildcats displayed some great performances in their fall season and will return to action in the spring for their official season of play.