NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Freshman Ryan Macy picked up a marquee victory in his young career by downing nationally-ranked Austin Gu at No. 3 singles, but the 33rd-ranked Captains fell to 16th-ranked Johns Hopkins University on Sunday morning, 7-2. CNU men's tennis falls to 1-3 to start the 2019 spring season while the Blue Jays are now 1-1. 

Macy and Gu traded quick set victories to set up the third set match tiebreaker which would be played much closer to the finish. First, Macy won the opening set 6-2 before Gu bounced back for a 6-0 win in the second set. The Captains' freshman raced out to a 4-1 lead in the breaker before Gu rallied back to pull within one, 5-4. Macy finished him off with wins in two of the next three games to capture the 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 win.

Gu was ranked 27th in the nation in the first singles rankings of the year, released on November 21. It is the first win over a nationally-ranked opponent this season for any Captain, and Macy becomes just the third CNU player to topple a ranked foe in the last three seasons. He joins senior Nicholas Ruzicka and assistant coach David Reed in that group. 

The other CNU team point came at No. 2 singles, where junior Dominic Lacombe downed senior Scott Thygesen (7-6, 6-4). The Captains picked up multiple games in each of the remaining four singles bouts, but Hopkins pulled out wins in each to earn the 7-2 victory. 

At No. 5 singles, William Trang won the first set, 7-6, before Blue Jays rookie Naevin Anukornchaikul answered with a 6-4 win in the second set. Trang and Anukornchaikul played close in the third set tiebreaker, but the visiting freshman pulled out a 10-7 win. 

In doubles play, Johns Hopkins won all three matches despite close scores at No. 1 and 2. CNU dropped 8-6 decisions in both as Macy and Andy Mason narrowly suffered defeat to Joe Cartledge and Gu on the top line, while Ruzicka and Trang fell by the same score at No. 2 against Thygesen and Colin Muraika. 

Christopher Newport is now set to make it's annual cross-country trip to California for spring break with their next match scheduled in Claremont against Whittier College on March 3. CNU will also take on host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, ranked 6th in the nation on the same day.