SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Making his first collegiate start against a nationally-ranked Swarthmore squad that had won three straight, Christopher Newport freshman
Ashton Legum picked up two of the Captains' three points in a 6-3 setback Sunday afternoon. Legum stepped into the starting lineup and earned wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles to lead the CNU effort despite the team dropping the match to the No. 29 Garnet.
The match was the seventh against a team ranked in the ITA National Rankings this season. It was the third of four matches in a run of five straight on the schedule that CNU will face against ranked opponents.
Christopher Newport took a 1-0 lead when Legum paired with
Eddy Porsmyr Hansen for an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles. The Captains' pair defeated Minh Nguyen and Graham Hadesman for Swarthmore to pull ahead early.
The advantage after doubles swung in favor of the home team with a 2-1 lead for Swarthmore despite a hard-fought battle at No. 1.
Ryan Macy and
Alec Strause were back-and-forth with John Nichols-Daly and Grant Dill all match when they were all square at seven games apiece. In the tiebreaker, Nicholas-Daly and Dill managed to sneak past the Captains' top duo with an 8-7 (8-6) win. Swarthmore also captured the point at No. 2 with an 8-3 win from regionally-ranked Rushil Patel and Charlie Force.
In singles play, CNU faced a pair of nationally-ranked opponents at 1 and 2 and nearly picked up the key wins to flip the match score. Unfortunately for the Captains, Force, ranked No. 36 in Division III, rebounded from a first-set loss to
Ryan Macy and won 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 and Kevin Jiang, ranked No. 44, held off
Alec Strause for a 7-6 (6), 6-2 win at No. 2.
Needing to win out, the Captains closed the gap with a win at No. 3 when Porsmyr Hansen defeated Patel in three sets (7-6, 3-6, 6-4), but the match was clinched at number four by Phil Rehwinkel.
Despite the team setback, Legum continued to battle in his matchup at No. 6 against Noah Criss. Stretching his opponent to a tiebreaker in the first, the Virginia Beach native captured the momentum-swinging set and then cruised to a straight-set win overall, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Next up for the 40th-ranked Captains is another test as they travel to No. 22 Mary Washington on Friday, April 1 for a match at 3:30 p.m.
