LEXINGTON, Va. -- Starting the spring season against the same team that ended the 2024 campaign, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team secured a pair of singles wins but ultimately succumbed to the 13th-ranked Trinity University (Texas) Tigers (5-1) on Saturday afternoon, 5-2. The 17th-ranked Captains (1-2) got wins from Raine Weis at No. 1 and Eva Taylor at No. 6. 

The matchup on the top line was a rematch between two of the top players in Division III as Weis, ranked No. 41 in the preseason singles rankings, took on Ruth Hill, ranked No. 13 in the singles rankings. In the NCAA Tournament matchup, Weis stretched Hill to a tiebreaker in the first set before falling to the junior counterpart. This time, Weis avenged the loss with a statement victory. 

Playing at the Duchossois Tennis Center on the campus of Washington and Lee University, Weis raced out to a lead with a first-set victory against the three-time singles All-American and two-time Conference Player of the Year, 6-3. Hill rebounded by holding off the Captains' senior leader with a 6-4 win in the second set and the two embarked on a decisive third set. 

Back and forth the two went in a hard-fought matchup. With the set tied at 6-6, Weis and Hill would decide the match in a breaker; Weis outlasted her opponent to clinch the match and pick up the thrilling win, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2). 

At No. 6, Taylor won her matchup against Rosabella Andrade and improved to a team-best 7-1 on the season. She captured the victory, 6-3, 1-6, 10-5, after Trinity clinched the match with the remaining singles wins. 

At No. 2, Kylie Schaefer forced Olivia Kim to a seventh game in the first set before falling 7-5, 6-4, and rookie Kendal Chang also stretched her opponent, Ellie Hughes, to a seventh game in the second set, 6-1, 7-5. 

Christopher Newport will return to action on Sunday as the Captains take on fifth-ranked Emory University at Noon.