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LEXINGTON, Va. -- The 34th-ranked Christopher Newport men's tennis team closed the regular season with an impressive punctuation mark on Sunday afternoon, dominating regionally-ranked Washington & Lee (9-6) for their fifth straight win. The Captains won, 8-1, in defeating the Generals for just the second time in program history.
The Captains last defeated perennial power Washington & Lee University in 2008 with a 6-3 victory over the Generals. CNU is now 2-15 all-time against the regional foes.
In Sunday's finale, the Captains got the better of the home Generals in all three of the bouts featuring regionally-ranked battles. First, at No. 1 doubles, the Captains top pairing of seniors
David Reed and
Justin Cerny took care of the eighth-ranked tandem in the Atlantic South, Charlie Kittredge and Harry Shepherd, 8-4. Then, in the top two singles bouts, Reed and Cerny each won over regionally-ranked opponents again. At No. 1, Reed outlasted the fifth-ranked player in the region, Shepherd, for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 win; at No. 2, Cerny then toppled 23rd-ranked Mitchell Thomas in three sets, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
On top of the three wins over regionally-ranked opponents, the Captains earned a sweep of doubles and won five of the six singles matches.
CNU captured an 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles, where
Andy Mason and
William Trang defeated Thomas and Thomas Harmon. In the No. 3 doubles bout,
Nicholas Ruzicka and
Dominic Lacombe paired up for an 8-4 win over Tye Loan and Noah Tapp.
Moving into singles with a 3-0 lead, the Captains clinched with straight set wins at 4-6. Ruzicka downed Kittredge (7-6 (6), 6-3) at No. 4; Lacombe defeated Loan at No. 5 (6-4, 6-0); and senior
Dillon Sykes handled Tapp at No. 3 (6-2, 6-0).
With Cerny's doubles win at No. 1 with partner Reed, the Captains' fourth-year starter captured his 63rd career win in pairs play. He is now alone in second place on the all-time doubles wins chart at CNU.
The Captains will now turn their attention to the Capital Athletic Conference Championship, where they will begin play at home against third-seeded Salisbury University on Wednesday, May 2 at 3:30 pm.
