NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Taking on a formidable opponent in NCAA Division I Hampton University, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team opened the spring portion of their schedule indoors on a rainy, Sunday morning and fell to the Pirates, 8-1. The Captains (1-2) picked up a big win at No. 1 doubles as the veteran pairing of
Tessa Trate and
Raine Weis sailed to an 8-3 win, but HU rebounded to sweep the rest of the action.
Playing at the James River Country Club, the Captains got underway with the dominant top line showing on court number one. Weis and Trate combined for their sixth win of the season in just seven matches, picking up their third straight in dual action. Trate is one shy of 40 doubles wins for her career and her 30 wins at No. 1 doubles is just seven away from joining the top-five all-time in CNU history.
Weis and Trate paired off against Mio Kozaki and Sofia Sokolova at No. 1 for the 8-3 win. Hampton won the other two doubles matches including an 8-3 win at No. 2 over
Mia Linam and
Samantha Robertson. At No. 3, rookie
Kylie Schaefer started her marathon day with partner
Megan Bauer as the duo suffered a narrow 8-7 (4) loss.
Schaefer's singles battle would mirror her lengthy doubles bout as the No. 6 matchup against Masa Mitic went the distance. The CNU freshman secured a 7-5 win in the first set before a late rally was denied in the second set as Mitic evened the score with a 6-4 win. In the match tiebreaker, Schaefer took the lead early against her Hampton counterpart, but Mitic staved off several match point efforts before holding off the Captains' newcomer. The final score was 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (11-9) to close out the match in favor of the visitors, 8-1.
Hampton secured the other singles matches in straight sets as Kozaki rebounded from her doubles loss to Weis with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 1 and Meiri Okuwaki swept her day with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Trate. Diana Starodubtseva outlasted
Mia Linam (6-2, 6-4) and Lucia Jorrin Fernandez defeated CNU's
Samantha Robertson (6-3, 6-3). At No. 5 singles,
Kiersten Chang went back-and-forth with Sokolova before a 6-4, 6-4 finish.
Christopher Newport will return to action at home next Sunday against North Carolina Wesleyan. The matchup is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m.
