NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In their third match against a nationally-ranked opponent already this Spring, the Captains women's tennis team earned a convincing 6-1 win against No. 37 Averett University (2-2) on Sunday afternoon. Christopher Newport, ranked No. 17 in the nation, earned the doubles point and captured five of the six singles matches in the win.
Raine Weis,
Kylie Schaefer, and
Eva Taylor all earned wins in both singles and doubles on Sunday to lead the way.
In doubles play, Weis and Schaefer continued their strong season as a pairing with a team-leading fourth win together. The duo played at No. 1 against Siddhi Khandelwal and Keira Gunning and earned a 6-3 win for the Captains. CNU dropped the match at No. 2, but delivered the fateful blow for the doubles point at No. 3 where
Samantha Robertson and Taylor paired up for a 7-5 win against Elisa Battermann and Dilara Sultanova.
The match momentum swung in favor of the Captains and they cruised to the home win from there. Weis won in straight sets at No. 1 against Khandelwal, improving to 8-2 through her first ten matches without a single loss on the top line. She is now 5-0 to start the year and now has 26 career victories at the No. 1 position, ranking fourth all-time at Christopher Newport. The victory also gave her 45 career singles wins overall, moving her into the top ten all-time behind Brittany Stevens (47) for ninth.
Schaefer also wrapped up her two-win day in straight sets, downing Rav. Ramanantoanina by a final score of 6-3, 6-1. The match was played at No. 2 where Schaefer is now 2-2 in duals in 2024-25. Taylor extended her hot streak to start her junior season and is now 9-1 through her first ten singles bouts with a 4-1 mark in duals. She played at No. 5 on Sunday, defeating Keira Gunning 6-3, 6-0.
The final two wins came from newcomers as
Kendal Chang, at No. 3, and
Lindsey Bergelin, at No. 6, wrapped up the win for CNU. Chang took down Dilara Sultanova in three sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, and Bergelin won over Harshri Asher 6-7, 6-4, 10-7.
The Captains are now off for nearly two weeks before returning to action in Orlando, Florida as part of their Spring Break Trip. Christopher Newport will take on Carnegie Mellon on March 7 followed by bouts against North Central on March 8 and Grinnell on March 10.
