Complete Box Score vs. No. 11 Pomona-PitzerComplete Box Score vs. OccidentalLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The Christopher Newport men's tennis team split a pair of matches to kick off their spring break trip to California, dropping a 9-0 decision to nationally-ranked Pomona-Pitzer (4-2) before beating the rain for a 5-0 win over Occidental College (1-4) in a weather-shortened match. The Captains run their overall record to 5-2 with the split, and will play three more matches on the West Coast this week.
In the morning matchup with the Sagehens, the Captains had several strong performances, primarily from rookie
David Reed. First, the rookie paired with
Justin Cerny to take on the second-ranked doubles tandem in the nation, Kalyan Chadalavada and Connor Hudson. The regionally-ranked Captains hung with the Sagehens top pairing, before succumbing to an 8-5 final. Reed's tough task in the morning match would also include a head-to-head singles battle with a nationally-ranked opponent in 36th-ranked Jake Yasgoor. In both sets, Reed would force a decisive seventh game, but was defeated 7-5, 7-5 in the No.1 position.
The 9-0 final was not indicative of how close many of the matches were for Christopher Newport.
Max Katcher forced a tiebreak in the second set before falling 6-3, 7-6 (5) to Spencer Simonides, and
Steven Boslet also stretched Jonathan Kim to a 7th game in the No. 2 matchup, before dropping a 7-5, 6-2 decision.
After their first Division III loss of the season, the Captains bounced back in the evening matchup against the Occidental Tigers. With the threat of inclement weather looming, the head coaches agreed to play singles first. CNU took a 4-0 lead with wins in the 1, 2, 5 and 6 lines. Sophomore
Arttu Fiva captured the match-clinching win right as the rain began to fall, defeating Bryston Lee (6-4, 6-3) to give CNU a 5-0 win.
Chiraag Shetty was in the lone unfinished match at No. 3.
Straight set wins for CNU came from Reed (6-4, 6-2) over Josh Dancu at No. 1; Boslet (6-2, 6-2) against Eric Kazangian at No. 2; Cerny (6-1, 6-1) over Avery Howard at No. 4; and Katcher (6-2, 6-2) versus Jesse Kreger at No. 6.
