Box Score vs. Penn State Harrisburg
Box Score vs. No. 13 Johns Hopkins

BALTIMORE, Md. -- The 24th-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team celebrated a successful Senior Day with a 9-0 drubbing of Penn State Harrisburg (1-7, 0-2), before hitting the road and falling in an extremely close battle at No. 15 Johns Hopkins (7-3) by a final score of 5-4. The Captains record runs to 10-5 after the Saturday split, with a 4-1 record in conference play. 

The day began with a pair of seniors being recognized prior to their final home regular season match, as Katie Carlson and Brook Byrd took the Eyre Courts at 10:00 am. Outside of some intermittent cloud cover, it was a beautiful day on the Christopher Newport campus, and Carlson and Byrd helped make it even prettier with 2-0 performances on the court. 

Both players were making their season debut at singles in the match, and both came away with convincing wins. Byrd won at No. 5 over Shevia Ansary (6-1, 6-0) and Carlson captured the win at No. 6 against Sheila Ansary (6-1, 6-0). 

In doubles play, Byrd paired with Colette Gilbert for a flawless 8-0 win at No. 3, while Carlson added another 8-0 win at No. 2, paired with Lily Schreiber. Both of the second-year tandem partners also added their own singles wins without surrendering a single game, as Gilbert won at No. 4 and Schreiber at No. 2. Rounding out the victories in the first match of the day was Claire Dockrill at No. 1 (6-1, 6-0), and Kristi Wong at No. 3 (6-1, 6-0). In doubles, Dockrill and Wong paired for an 8-1 win at No. 1. 

In the evening heavyweight bout between two of the nation's Top 25-ranked teams, the Captains raced out to a 3-0 lead after doubles. CNU looked dominant in pairs play, including in the top spot where the Captains picked up an 8-2 win. Alexandra Drye and McKinney Harwood were the culprits, downing Anna Kankanala and Ashnaa Rao for the win. In two doubles, Kate Huck and rookie Johanna Ranta-aho surged ahead for an 8-4 win over Caroline Gredek and Jody Law; and on the third line,  Emily Morgan paired with Isabelle Wessel to hold off Sophia Strickland and Kimberly Zou, 8-6. 

The match would flip in singles play, however, as the home team pulled out the close matches and did just enough to hold off the Captains, 5-4. Ranta-aho earned a hard-fought win at No. 2 (7-6 (2), 6-3) over Jody Law, but CNU suffered setbacks in the remaining five singles matchups. 

At No. 4 singles, Drye was taking on Greydek and suffered a first-set loss, but rebounded for a 6-3 win in the second. Playing a full set in the third with the match riding on the shoulders of each player, it was Greydek who would outlast Drye, earning a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory. 

CNU won at least three games in all six matches, and stretched a pair of Blue Jays to a set tiebreaker. Ranked 15th in the nation, Johns Hopkins improved to 7-3 this season. 

The Captains will now close out the regular season with four straight matches on the road, including back-to-back bouts against NCAA Division I opponents just before the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament. Next up for CNU is Frostburg State on April 9.