SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Faced with a stiff challenge in taking on the sixth-ranked Tufts University Jumbos (17-6), the 29th-ranked Christopher Newport men's tennis team played valiantly but suffered a 5-0 loss in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Division III National Championships. The Captains close the season with a 14-8 overall record in 2023-24. 

Playing on a neutral court at Swarthmore College, the Captains and Jumbos met for the first time in program history on Saturday. The match was held at the Faulkner Courts in Pennsylvania. 

Tufts jumped out to an early lead with a 3-0 sweep in doubles play. The 15th-ranked tandem in the nation of Vuk Vuksanovic and Alex Ganchev were challenged by the Captains top tandem in Vincent Truong and Nesh Kumaresan, but the CNU duo fell by a final score of 8-3. At No. 2 doubles, it was the same score for Ashton Legum and Edvard Porsmyr Hansen, who close the season with a team-high 19 wins together. Finally, Alex Seretis and Ahun Vodela were saddled with an 8-1 loss at No. 3. 

Needing just two singles wins to clinch the postseason victory, Tufts won at No. 2 and No. 6 to close out the win. CNU got a solid effort from Legum at No. 4 against Derin Acaroglu, forcing his Tufts counterpart into a first-set tiebreaker before ultimately falling 7-6 (7-4) in the tightly contested matchup. His bout was left unfinished, however, as the Jumbos sealed the victory before the second set could begin. Ryan Monroe snagged three games off his opponent at No. 5 and Seretis won three in the first set and one in the second at No. 6. Behind Legum, Truong was the leader for CNU with four game victories, with all coming in the second set at No. 1 against the 10th-ranked singles player in the nation in Vuksanovic. 

Wrapping up the season with 14 dual victories, the Captains logged the most wins since 2017 when CNU also reached the second round of the NCAA Division III Team Championships with 15 total wins. Head coach Eric Christiansen now has 141 wins as the coach of the men's program, ranking second all-time at CNU.