FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The third-seeded Christopher Newport men's tennis team earned a dramatic 5-4 win over second-seeded UC Santa Cruz in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Semifinals on Saturday night, earning a trip to the conference championship match on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The Captains improved to 10-8 overall with the thrilling win, which came down to the final serve at the Hegmann Family Tennis Center in Fredericksburg, Va. late Saturday night.

Ashton Legum had a big day for the Captains playing in two match-turning bouts on Saturday as he earned pivotal wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles. Only the fourth time he was asked to pull double duty all season, the CNU rookie excelled, holding off his Santa Cruz counterparts to extend the match for his team.

The right to compete in the 2022 Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship came down to the three-set final match at No. 4 singles between CNU sophomore Tyler Hyun and UC Santa Cruz senior David Jackson. Hyun won the first set, 6-2, before Jackson answered with a second set victory, 6-3. With no other action going in the tennis center, the teams rallied behind their No. 4 starters and cheered every point in the third set.
 
After the players traded the first six games in the set, Hyun broke Jackson's serve first to take a 5-3 lead. The Banana Slugs veteran rebounded with a break in game nine to pull back within one, 5-4. Hyun opened game ten with a wicked forehand winner into the opposite corner and notched a mirror image point to take a 40-30 edge moments later. With the match on the line, Hyun needed just wait as the final point was scored on a double fault that triggered an ecstatic celebration from the Captains.
 
With the 5-4 win, the Captains advance to the team's sixth consecutive conference championship appearance since 2015.
 
The fantastic finish was set up by a grueling five-plus hour match between the two closely-ranked programs. Coming into Saturday's first ever match between the two teams, Christopher Newport was ranked No. 40 in the nation and Santa Cruz was tabbed No. 34.
 
In doubles play, the Captains took a 2-1 lead on UC Santa Cruz by winning matches at 1 and 3. Ryan Macy and Alec Strause set the tone for Christopher Newport with an 8-5 win over Andrew Tjoa and Lucas Chen on the top line. Santa Cruz evened the score with an 8-3 win at No. 2 but it was the Captains that earned the crucial second team point with an 8-6 win at No. 3. Matthew Dubuque and Legum paired up for the victory over Jackson and teammate Jay Pandit.
 
Moving into singles play, CNU took a 3-1 lead when Eddy Porsmyr Hansen captured a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 3 over Tjoa, but the Banana Slugs stormed back to even the score at 3-3 with wins at 1 and 2. As the final three matches took the court, the semifinal turned into a best of three. Santa Cruz won at No. 5 to force CNU into a must-win situation down 4-3, but Legum evened the score back with a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 win over Pandit at No. 6.
 
That would set up the winning match by Hyun, who sent CNU into the championship round after the marathon match concluded at around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
 
Christopher Newport will face Mary Washington in the title bout for the sixth time. Mary Washington last won the title in 2019 for their 24^th title while CNU won in 2017 for the program's first ring.