Box Score in HTML Format

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- Sophomore McKinney Harwood notched a win against her regionally-ranked opponent in singles, and Alexandra Drye added a win for the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team, but the Captains suffered a 7-2 loss in the 2016 Capital Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship on Saturday afternoon. 

The second-seeded Captains (14-8) dropped the decision to top-seeded host Mary Washington (19-4), who captured their 13th straight CAC title. It was the second straight matchup in the title bout between CNU and Mary Washington, and the Captains picked up an additional point in the final score in the rematch. Last season, CNU suffered an 8-1 loss in the championship match and in 2016, the young Captains closed the gap by one, 7-2. 

The Eagles got off to a good start en route to their record 13th-straight title, sweeping all three doubles points in 8-4 finals across the board.

In singles action, the Captains put up a fight before finally succumbing to the Eagles in four of the six matchups. The Captains won multiple games in all six bouts, and picked up a pair of team points behind Harwood and Drye. After the Eagles had clinched the win with victories at 2-4 and 6, the Captains' sophomores battled on. 

At 1 singles, the regionally-ranked showdown between Brogan, ranked 9th in the Atlantic South, and Harwood, listed at No. 17 in the region, would extend long into a match tiebreak before CNU's second-year captured the win. Brogan won the first set on her home court, 6-2, but Harwood answered with an equally dominant 6-1 win in the second. With the match already settled, Harwood and Brogan played a match tiebreak and teetered back and forth well into double digits. After a lengthy back-and-forth, it was Harwood who pulled out the 15-13 win to close out the championship match. The win was the first of the season for Harwood against a ranked opponent, as she improved to 7-6 in No. 1 singles. 

Moments earlier, Drye got CNU on the board with a three-set victory of her own in the No. 5 matchup against Mackenzie Smith. Smith won the first set, 6-1, but Drye took over from there, winning 6-4, 6-2, in the second and third. 

The match clinching point came at No. 3 singles where CNU sophomore Kate Huck hung in with Taylor Diffley, but fell by a 6-2, 6-3 final score.