Match Box Score vs. Washington & Lee  ||  Match Box Score vs. Southern Virginia

LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Christopher Newport women's tennis team dropped an 8-1 decision to 16th-ranked Washington & Lee before picking up the first Capital Athletic Conference win of the year with a 9-0 shutout over Southern Virginia University on Saturday afternoon. With the win, CNU improved to 2-2 overall with a 1-0 mark in conference action. 

Junior Claire Dockrill picked up the lone point for CNU against the Generals, winning at No. 6 singles. The Captains' third-year player from Elon, N.C. took down Melinda Kauffman for the win, 6-4, 6-4. The Captains also got exceptional matchs from multiple players, coming out just shy of multiple team points. 

First off, in doubles action, the Captains fell 8-5 at No. 2 doubles, as rookie Johanna Ranta-aho and junior Kate Huck played hard against Michelle Fleenor and Hannah Archer. In singles, Ranta-aho picked up a set against Tessa Hill at No. 2, but fell in the third for a 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 setback. Huck also captured a set in her match at No. 3 singles, but Fleenor managed to hold on for a 6-3, 4-6, 10-2 win. 

In the second match of the day, the Captains put themselves atop the CAC standings with the first win in conference play of the season. The team rushed to a swift 3-0 lead through doubles, dropping only one game. At the first and third line, CNU won 8-0 matches as the Captains raced out to an early lead. 

It wasn't long into singles before the match was clinched, and then finished out by the remaining four bouts with wins for CNU. Ranta-aho won at No. 2 doubles and then at No. 1 singles, taking down Lauren Morrison (6-0, 6-0) on the top line. Huck wrapped up a strong performance on the day with a win at No. 2 singles over Micah Morse (6-0, 6-0), and Meili Konell also posted a pair of set shutouts to win over Kelly Worthington at No. 4 (6-0, 6-0). 

Rounding out the wins for CNU in singles play was Isabelle Wessel at No. 3, Emily Morgan at 5 and Lily Schreiber at No. 6. Alexandra Drye, McKinney Harwood, and Katie Carlson each added wins in doubles play against the Knights. 

CNU is now off until the team treks to California for Spring Break starting on March 4. The Captains will take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 4:00 pm, opening a run of four matches against West Coast teams.