LEXINGTON, Va. -- Playing late into the night on Saturday, the Christopher Newport women's tennis team came away with a thrilling top-20 win against Denison University. The Captains (3-3) captured an 8-1 neutral site win at the Duchossois Tennis Center in Lexington, Va., hosted by Washington and Lee University. 

Rookie Samantha Robertson, a native of Rocky River, Ohio, picked up the clinching point against the team from her home state as she earned a hard-fought three-set win against Maia Nowicki at No. 4 singles. Robertson won the first set, 6-2, before dropping a 6-3 decision in the second. In the decisive third set, the CNU freshman edged out Nowicki by a final count of 7-5 to secure CNU its first nationally-ranked win of the season. 

Robertson also earned a win at No. 2 doubles with partner Mia Linam. Taking on Caroline Kittle and Caroline Lopez, the CNU tandem picked up an 8-6 win to help CNU take a 2-1 lead after doubles. The other doubles win came on the top line as veterans Tessa Trate and Raine Weis earned an 8-3 win over Nowicki and Dasha Chistyakova. 

Denison got on the board with an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles, but the Captains took control with a singles sweep. Weis and Trate dominated on the top two lines, suffering just four games lost between the two matches. Weis defeated Peyton Oda at No. 1 singles (6-1, 6-2) and Trate earned a quick win over Kittle at No. 2 (6-1, 6-0). 

Then came Robertson's clinching victory, but the Captains cruised through the final three matches as well. Linam rallied from a first set loss to take the second in a tiebreaker and earned a 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 win at No. 3 against Chistyakova. Rounding out the strong overall performance were Kiersten Chang against Lopez at No. 5 (6-1, 6-3) and rookie Kylie Schaefer versus Elizabeth Hoo at No. 6 (6-4, 6-2). 

CNU improved to 3-3 after the win and will next travel to Orlando, Florida for three matches over Spring Break. The Captains are scheduled to face No. 36 Rensselaer on Wednesday, March 6 followed by a March 7 tilt against No. 11 Carnegie Mellon. CNU will then wrap the trip against North Central College on March 10.