NEWPORT NEWS, VA - The Christopher Newport University men's tennis team recently rose in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings for NCAA Division III.

Their dual-match season ended with a second-place finish in the USA South tournament, but the Captains nevertheless jumped a spot from No. 30 to No. 29 in the nation. The Captains are No. 8 among the 15 ranked teams in the Atlantic South Region.

In singles, sophomore Eric Shulman rose from No. 5 to 4 in the Atlantic South rankings and is all but assured of one of the 32 berths in the Division III singles tournament in Cleveland.

Shulman likely will play a first-round national match May 28. Having lost to just one D-III opponent all spring (Vassar's Mike Mattelson, No. 6 in the Northeast Region), the powerful, crafty Shulman will carry a 13-match singles winning streak to Cleveland.

Shulman only lost one of 27 sets during that streak, rallying past North Carolina Wesleyan's Antti Saari 0-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) in the conference final and perhaps denying Saari a national singles berth.

Also, Gian Heyer rose to No. 13 in his first full season as a Captain. The Swiss standout began the year at No. 4 but played most of the season in the No. 2 position.

Like Shulman, Heyer commenced an impressive singles winning streak after a defeat on lightning-fast courts at Vassar in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Heyer won 10 consecutive matches, nine at the No. 2 spot, before dropping a match tiebreaker to N.C. Wesleyan in his finale.

As a team, the Captains finished 14-9, 5-1 in the USA South regular season, and expect to return all but one regular starter for 2010-11. They posted 5-2 victories over Division I teams St. Joseph's, George Mason and Norfolk State, and they overcame now-No. 18 Mary Washington 5-4 in their most dramatic match of the year.

All of CNU's defeats came to Division I teams (Richmond, Old Dominion) or squads in the April 29 ITA Division III top 30 (a pair to No. 11 N.C. Wesleyan, plus No. 8 Carnegie Mellon, No. 19 Salisbury, No. 20 Kalamazoo, No. 21 Chicago and No. 27 Vassar).

National Team Rankings


The Atlantic South Rankings