NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's tennis team suffered 5-0 loss to #2-seed Mary Washington in the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship Semifinals on Saturday afternoon, dropping to 10-8 overall this year. Playing in front of a robust crowd of over 150 spectators, the Eagles slipped by the Captains in three very narrow doubles matches and finished off the win with a pair singles wins at 2 and 3.
The match featured three of the best doubles matches in the tournament thus far, with 40 games won between them. The hotly-contested matchup featured high-intensity rallies and emotional breaks throughout the doubles action, but ultimately it was the visiting Eagles that narrowly edged out the Captains.
At No. 1, Rishi Charan Shankar and Andrew Watson got by CNU's ranked pairing of
Alec Strause and
Nesh Kumaresan, 8-4, to get the first team point of the day. At No. 2, CNU's
Ashton Legum and
Alex Seretis battled against Brock Ladehoff and Peter Leese before succumbing to an 8-6 final.
The No. 3 matchup would end in the same score, 8-6, despite a hard-fought rally from
Vincent Truong and
Ahun Vodela against Artis Hart and Andrew Cooper.
Hart and Watson picked up the fourth and clinching fifth points of the match with wins at 3 and 2, respectively.
CNU is 10-8 overall and is ranked No. 10 in the most recent ITA Regional Rankings. In the NCAA Regional Rankings released on Thursday, the Captains were ranked No. 7 in Region IV.
