BALTIMORE, Md. -- Playing on a neutral court at Goucher College, the nationally-ranked showdown between 40th-ranked Christopher Newport and 28th-ranked Haverford fell narrowly by way of the Fords, 5-4. The Captains won a pair in both singles and doubles but the Fords nipped CNU with four wins in individual play.
A hard-fought battle in doubles favored Christopher Newport after pairs play, 2-1. CNU dropped only the bout at No. 3 while securing narrow victories on lines one and two.
Ryan Macy and
Alec Strause were extended to a tiebreaker but pulled away in extra time as they defeaded George Jiang and Stefan Johnson by a final score of 8-7 (7-3). In another close matchup, CNU seniors
Paul Baron and
Mason Kolls pulled out a 6-8 win over Jason Edmonds and Justin Minerva at No. 2.
In singles play,
Eddy Porsmyr Hansen captured a straight set win at No. 3 over Daniel Loder (6-4, 6-3) to pull the Captains within two points of the win, but the Fords responded with wins on lines 4-6.
Macy faced No. 23 George Jiang in a matchup of regionally-ranked singles players and the first set was stretched to seven games. Jiang slipped by Macy, however, capturing a 7-5, 6-1 victory on the top line.
Rounding out the day for Christopher Newport at No. 2 was Strause, picking up a two-win day for the Captains. It would not come easily as he faced Andreas Wingert and the pair traded gritty sets to force a third-set tiebreaker. Strause won the first 6-4, and nearly captured the match in two before Wingert secured a 7-6 (3) victory in the second set. After a back-and-forth duel, it was Strause who pulled away late for a 10-6 win in the tiebreaker.
Christopher Newport closes out the regular season with a 9-8 overall record.
The Captains will now turn their focus to postseason play as they travel to the University of Mary Washington from May 6-8 for the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship. The first round will pit the #4-seed vs. the #5-seed with the top three seeds receiving a bye. The semifinals on Saturday, May 7, will be played simultaneously at 4:00 pm with the championship scheduled for 2:00 pm on Sunday.
