HAVERFORD, Pa. -- The nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's tennis team was edged out in a close match on the road Friday evening, 6-3, as Haverford College held serve at home against the Captains (8-7). Three singles bouts were decided in a third set by the Fords as CNU narrowly missed a road win at the Bramall Courts just outside of Philadelphia.
The Captains took a 3-2 lead halfway through the bout, but the home team responded with the final four team points to clinch the win. Christopher Newport won at No. 3 doubles and picked up victories at 3 and 6 singles.
Suffering just their second loss of the season,
Alec Strause and
Nesh Kumaresan fell to James McKenzie and Stefan Johnson on the top line of tandem play in a hard-fought battle. The Captains' duo saw a nine-match winning streak come to a close after falling 8-7 (3). Strause and Kumaresan are 13-2 at No. 1 doubles this season.
While the home team outlasted the Captains' No. 1 pairing, the two Captains at No. 3 handed Haverford a similar disappointment in a marathon match that checked in at just under an hour from start to finish.
Alex Seretis and
Ashton Legum outlasted their opponents, Abhinav Nallapareddy and Kirin Eicher, in an 8-7 (12-10) final.
The team point was the first of the day for CNU, who trailed, 2-1 heading into singles action. Quickly, though, the visitors took the lead when
Ahun Vodela and
Ryan Monroe picked up straight set wins for the Captains. Vodela defeated Aiden Kim at No. 3 (6-1, 6-3) and Monroe downed Adam Chow at No. 6 (6-4, 6-1).
Legum, Strause, and
Vincent Truong all forced a third set with second-set victories for the Captains. Legum fell to Justin Minerva at No. 5 (6-4, 2-6, 6-2); Strause to Johnson at No. 1 (6-3, 0-6, 6-4); and, Truong to McKenzie at No. 4 (6-2, 3-6, 6-4).
Christopher Newport is now 8-7 overall this season with just one match left on the schedule. The Captains were originally scheduled to face Johns Hopkins on the road Saturday, but head coach
Eric Christiansen announced the match has been canceled due to poor weather. CNU will take on Washington (Md.) on Sunday, April 23 at 1:00 pm for Senior Day.
