NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In a grueling season-opening match against a top-25 opponent, the No. 23 Christopher Newport women's tennis team suffered a 9-0 setback to No. 25 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon. The Captains battled in tight matches throughout the afternoon but ultimately suffered the loss to the Blue Jays at the James River Country Club indoor tennis facility.
Raine Weis,
Tessa Trate, and
Mia Linam each won a set in their singles matches while
Kiersten Chang forced set tiebreakers in both of her sets. With all four of those bouts decided by narrow margins, the final score was certainly not indicative of how close the battle against Johns Hopkins was.
First, in doubles play the Captains went down 3-0 despite more hard-fought action. In the No. 3 pairing, Chang played with
Kendra Womack as the veteran combo suffered an 8-6 loss to Niamh Harding and Christina Huynh. At No. 1, Weis and Trate snagged five games in an 8-5 loss to Kamila Wong and Jay Xiao. Finally,
Megan Bauer and Linam also won three games at No. 2 against MaryBeth Hurley and Emily Javedan.
Moving into singles play, the top four took the courts in a thrilling back-and-forth. Weis and Linam each secured first set victories at 1 and 3, respectively, by 7-5 scores. After Trate fell behind one set to nil, she bounced back with a 6-4 win in the second set. Unfortunately, all three of the Blue Jays rallied for wins to clinch the victory. Xiao downed Weis at No. 1 (5-7, 6-2, 6-3); Hurley over Trate at No. 2 (6-4, 4-6, 6-3); and Wong capped off a three-set win at No. 3 over Linam (5-7, 6-4, 6-2).
At No. 4 singles, junior
Kiersten Chang forced a set tiebreak in both the first and second before fallint to Ali Bader in a tough result, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). With the match decided, the final two singles appearances were shrunk to pro-sets and Womack suffered an 8-1 loss at No. 5 against Huynh before
Anna Campbell dropped an 8-6 match to Harding.
Christopher Newport will attempt to bounce back on Sunday as they play host to Division I Hampton University at 10:00 a.m.
