CLAREMONT, Calif. -- In a rematch of last year's Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Semifinal matchup, the Christopher Newport men's tennis program took on nationally-ranked UC Santa Cruz on a neutral court Saturday afternoon, capturing an exciting 5-4 win. The Captains improved to 4-2 on the season after clinching the match at No. 1 doubles behind
Alec Strause and
Nesh Kumaresan.
Both Strause and Kumaresan won both in singles and doubles, combining for three of the Captains' five points on the day. The match started with singles due to rain in the area, and Christopher Newport stepped out to a 4-2 lead after one-on-one play. Strause won at No. 1 in straight sets while Kumaresan added a hard-fought win at No. 4. Rounding out the CNU victories in the match were rookie
Jake Dolphin at No. 5 and veteran
Vincent Truong at No. 6.
In singles action, Strause picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lucas Chen to get the Captains on the board. At No. 2,
Edvard Porsmyr Hansen held on to win the first set, but finished out the bout falling to Andre Mardirossian (6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4). CNU rebounded with wins on lines 4-6 to take an all-important two-point lead into pairs play.
At No. 4, Kumaresan snagged a 7-5 win in the first set before blowing away Praneet Varade in the second, 6-1. Fellow freshman
Jake Dolphin slipped by Vincent Tjoa at No. 5 (6-4, 6-4) and Truong had the best singles performance of the day for CNU, downing Aziz Albayouk (6-3, 6-3).
With the Banana Slugs needing to sweep doubles to come from behind and beat the Captains, Christopher Newport leaned on it's top tandem as it has all year. Strause and Kumaresan left little doubt in an 8-3 win over Chen and Tjoa. UC Santa Cruz would finish out wins in both 2 and 3 doubles, but after the Captains had clinched the match.
CNU improves to 4-2 on the season while the Banana Slugs are now 2-6. Christopher Newport will continue it's Southern California swing with matches at Whittier on Monday, March 6, at Chapman on Thursday, March 9 and at Redlands on Friday, March 10.
