NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- With the weather unseasonably warm on Saturday afternoon, the men's tennis match against Virginia Wesleyan was moved outdoors but late afternoon showers forced the weekend tilt back inside to the James River Country Club. Once finally set, the Captains raced past the Marlins (0-1) for a shutout win against the cross-water rivals, 9-0.
CNU improved to 2-0 on the opening weekend after also capturing an 8-1 win over Hampden-Sydney on Friday night.
Four Captains won in both singles and doubles and eight total CNU players earned wins against the Marlins on Saturday. Sophomore
Nesh Kumaresan won with partner
Vincent Truong at No. 1 doubles and the tandem each captured singles wins at No. 2 and 3, respectively. Also picking up multiple wins were rookie
Gus Mitchell, at No. 5 singles and No. 3 doubles, and
Ashton Legum, and No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles.
In doubles play, Kumaresan and Truong captured an 8-5 win over Rafael and Carlos Rullan on the top line. Legum paired with
Edvard Porsmyr Hansen at No. 2 doubles for an 8-5 win against Alen Curovic and Felix Bevc. Rounding out the sweep in pairs play were Mitchell and
Ahun Vodela earning an 8-3 win at No. 3 against Francis Cabaddu and Tudor Vlad.
With a 3-0 lead in hand, the Captains turned to singles where they would cruise to the shutout win. At No. 1, Porsmyr Hansen outlasted Bevc after splitting the first two sets. The Captains' veteran won the first set, 6-2, before dropping a 6-3 second set. In the third set tiebreaker, Porsmyr Hansen and Bevc went back and forth before CNU's team captain secured an 11-9 win in a thrilling bout.
At No. 2, Kumaresan earned a straight set win over Rafael Rullan (6-3, 6-1), and Truong wrapped up his sweep with a win over Hubert Parawa at No. 3 (6-1, 7-5).
Ryan Monroe sailed to a victory at No. 4 for the Captains, downing Carlos Rullan (6-3, 6-1). Mitchell won over Curovic at No. 5 (6-4, 7-5) and Legum defeated Tudor Vlad (6-2, 6-3) at No. 6.
After closing out the opening weekend with a 2-0 start, the Captains will rest until Friday when they will host Division I Norfolk State for an exhibition match at 7:00 p.m. The next official regular season outing will be on Saturday, February 16 against Goucher College at 3:00 p.m.
