NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- After splitting the first pair of doubles matches, the Christopher Newport men's tennis team rattled off seven straight wins to capture the first win of the spring season with an 8-1 victory over Hampden-Sydney College (0-3) on Friday evening at the James River Country Club. The Captains got multi-win performances from senior captain
Edvard Porsmyr Hansen, veteran
Ahun Vodela, and rookie
Gus Mitchell.
To get things started, Porsmyr Hansen paired with
Ashton Legum for a quick 8-2 win at No. 2 doubles to get the Captains on the board first. The experienced pairing improved to 7-1 as a tandem this year after wrapping up an exceptional fall slate with a 6-1 overall record together. In the No. 2 bout, the CNU couple took down Casey Coffey and Dillon McReynolds from the H-SC lineup.
The Tigers answered with an 8-5 win at No. 1, but cruising to a shutout win at No. 3 for the Captains were Mitchell and Vodela. The duo was playing together for the first time in dual action after pairing with other partners in the fall tournament schedule and combining for three wins. Mitchell and Vodela downed Taylor Fox and Henry Singleton without surrendering a game.
Moving into singles play with a 2-1 advantage, the first four lines took off at the James River CC and CNU quickly established the home court advantage. Mitchell cruised to a speedy 6-2, 6-3 win over Coffey at No. 3 and soon after it was
Ryan Monroe earning a 6-2, 6-2 win against McReynolds at No. 2. Clinching the match on the top line was Porsmyr Hansen, capturing a straight-set win over the Tigers' No. 1, Barrett Foster, with a 6-1, 7-5 finish.
The final three matches went CNU's way as well as
Tyler Hyun earned a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 4 against Singleton before Vodela wrapped up his season-opening sweep with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Matt Kendrick at No. 6. Rounding out the performance was sophomore
Alex Seretis with a hard-fought first set, 7-6, and a 6-2 finish to the match at No. 5 against Thomas Davis.
Christopher Newport opens the season with a win for the seventh straight year and the 10th time in 12 seasons under Director of Tennis
Eric Christiansen. The Captains will look to carry the momentum into another matchup this weekend as they host Virginia Wesleyan University on Saturday, February 10 at 3:00 p.m.
