ORLANDO, Fla. -- Playing their second straight match against a team that reached the 2021 NCAA National Quarterfinals, the CNU Women's Tennis team suffered an 8-1 setback against Wesleyan University (1-0) on Monday afternoon. The Captains fall to 1-4 on the season after dropping the match to a team that is defending national runner-up and ranked No. 2 in the most recent ITA national rankings.
Certainly not overmatched in the outing, Christopher Newport captured at least four games in all but one singles match and No. 45
Tessa Trate took a dominant set from her nationally-ranked opponent at No. 1, Caitlyn Ferrante. Trate also paired with
Raine Weis on the top line of doubles to secure the Captains' team point in the match, defeating Ferrante and partner Kristina Yu, 8-3.
Wesleyan led the match, 2-1, after doubles with Trate and Weis pulling away in the No. 1 bout. At No. 2,
Karina Crivtonencu and
Amanda Yermal battled against Nika Vesely and Sophie Henderson before the Cardinals pair finished off an 8-4 win.
In singles action, the highly-touted matchup between Trate and Ferrante was nearly a straight set victory for the Captains' leading sophomore, but Ferrante rallied to force a tiebreaker in the second. The momentum shifted toward the Wesleyan veteran and Trate suffered a narrow 0-6, 7-6 (4), 10-1 loss to the 20th-ranked player in the nation.
At No. 3 singles,
Kiersten Chang forced Venia Yeung to work hard for a 6-3, 6-4 win and Crivtonencu also won four games in her first set against Sasha Gaeth at No. 5.
Mia Linam secured multiple game victories in her matchup with Kriti Williams at No. 4 before falling, 6-3, 6-2.
Christopher Newport is playing at Sanlando Park just outside of Orlando, Florida and will play two more highly-anticipated matches this week. Live streams are available for the action with the link posted on CNU Women's Tennis schedule. The Captains will face Carnegie Mellon on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. before finishing out the trip on Wednesday against RPI at 8:00 a.m. On Tuesday, CNU faces the Tartans, who were ranked No. 13 in the final team rankings of 2020-21.
