BUENA VISTA, Va. -- The 36th-ranked Christopher Newport men's tennis team won it's 10th match of the season on Thursday in a make-up date at Southern Virginia University (10-3, 2-3). The Captains improved to 10-7, 5-1 with an 8-1 victory on the road with just one conference match left to play this season. 

The Captains will take on first-place Salisbury in a pivotal Capital Athletic Conference matchup on Sunday, April 14 at 2:00 pm to conclude the conference regular season. The Sea Gulls have not yet lost in conference play with just CNU and Mary Washington left on their docket. 

On Thursday, the Captains took a 3-0 lead after a hard-fought doubles match against the Knights. CNU cruised to a 1-0 lead with an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles, where William Trang and Nicholas Ruzicka grabbed the win for CNU. Then, at No. 2 doubles, James Baron and Dominic Lacombe earned an 8-3 win to put CNU ahead, 2-0, before the No. 1 tandem made it a sweep.

Ryan Macy and Andy Mason, ranked No. 7 in the Atlantic South regional doubles rankings, were scheduled to face the No. 4 tandem Kukutla Motlojoa and Daniel Blonquist, but Blonquist moved down to No. 2 and Paul Monson stepped in for Southern Virginia on the top line. The two tandems battled before CNU's pairing pulled out an 8-6 win to put the Captains ahead comfortably, 3-0. 

In singles action, the Captains got wins in five of the six bouts including from Lacombe at No. 1 against Monson (6-2, 7-6). Macy, Ruzicka, and Baron all won in straight sets in matches 4-6, and Trang picked up a three-setter at No. 3 singles. 

CNU has now won 10 or more matches every season since 2004, a stretch of 15 straight years. That includes all seven seasons under current head coach Eric Christiansen, under whom the Captains have averaged 13.6 wins per season. In conference play, the Captains improved to 40-8 under Christiansen with the win, for a winning percentage of .833.