NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Picking up a pivotal win at home on a beautiful Spring afternoon at the Eyre Courts, the 27th-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team captured a 6-3 victory against No. 25 Haverford College on Saturday. The Captains have won four in a row and six of the last seven to improve to 8-4 on the season.
The Captains cruised through doubles action before facing a stiff test in singles play as five of the six matches were stretched to three sets. With wins in four of the six, the Captains pulled away and clinched the match when
Raine Weis rallied for a win at No. 1.
The lone singles match that was not played into a third set came at No. 2 singles where Christopher Newport senior
Tessa Trate held off Ellie Esterowitz for a 7-5, 6-4 win. The Boone, N.C. native won her third straight match while leading the way in a group of three veterans to sweep their matches against the Fords. Weis and Trate paired up for a win at No. 1 doubles and
Mia Linam earned wins at No. 2 doubles and No. 3 singles.
The veteran trio proved to be the difference in the nationally-ranked showdown. First, in doubles play, Weis and Trate earned an 8-3 victory against Esterowitz and Abbey Russano. Linam paired with
Samantha Robertson for an 8-2 win at No. 2, taking down Mimi Lavin and Summer Williams.
CNU nearly snagged a doubles sweep when
Kylie Schaefer and
Megan Bauer took on Rachael Fitzgerald and Emily Oh at No. 3. The match was tied, 7-7, before Haverford squeaked out the team point with an 8-7 (7-3) win.
In singles play, Trate sprinted to her win to make it 3-1 before Haverford answered with a win at No. 4, trimming the lead to 3-2. Then, in a span of about five minutes, Linam wrapped up a three-set win at No. 3 against Rachael Fitzgerald (5-7, 6-0, 6-3) and Weis clinched the match with a victory at No. 1 against Russano (0-6, 6-3, 6-2).
With the victory in hand, CNU won at No. 6 when
Kylie Schaefer, who was leading in the third set, won by retirement.
Christopher Newport will return to action this week as they host Virginia Wesleyan at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 4.
