FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Playing in the second half of a conference championship doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, the 2nd-seeded Christopher Newport men's tennis team will travel to top-seeded host Mary Washington for the 2016 Capital Athletic Conference Championship at 3:30 pm. The men will take the court following the CNU and UMW women's tennis programs doing battle starting at Noon.
The nationally-ranked showdown between the 27th-ranked Captains and 26th-ranked Eagles is a rematch of the 2015 conference title bout in which CNU suffered a 7-2 setback. This year, Mary Washington comes into the match featuring a 17-9 overall record while Christopher Newport is now 13-8 overall.
CNU advanced to their second straight CAC Championship appearance with a 5-1 victory against third-seeded Salisbury, while Mary Washington earned its way to the final with a 9-0 win over fourth-seeded Southern Virginia. In the regular season, the Eagles extended its advantage in the all-time series against Christopher Newport with a 9-0 win at home. Two of the three doubles matchups were extended to 16 games, won 9-7 in favor of the Eagles, and CNU captured multiple game victories in five of the six singles matchups.
Junior
Arttu Fiva leads the team with 19 singles victories this season, including at least one win in five of the six spots in singles play. Sophomores
David Reed and
Justin Cerny have done most of the damage on the top two lines, while junior
Steven Boslet and senior
Chiraag Shetty each boast double-digit win totals. Reed did not appear in the regular season match against Mary Washington and expects to be a factor in the championship.
In doubles action, Boslet and Shetty are regionally ranked in the Atlantic South with 14 wins together in 2015-16. Cerny and Reed are 10-4 at 2 doubles, while a number of different pairings have appeared at 3 doubles. On Wednesday, it was
Michael Dodd and
William Trang, who capturing a 9-8 (3) win for CNU over Salisbury.
Mary Washington enters the match seeking their 17th straight CAC title, powered by an experienced group including senior David Lunding-Johansson and junior Brandon Griffin. Lunding-Johansson leads the team in victories, going 21-9 in his final campaign with a 14-5 record at 1 or 2 singles. Freshman Matt Miles is right behind him, scoring 20 wins in his rookie year. Griffin is ranked 15th in the Atlantic South region as a singles player and 7th with Miles as his doubles partner.
Full scores and a recap will be available following the action at CNUsports.com
