HAVERFORD, Pa. -- The 30th-ranked Christopher Newport women's tennis team captured its fifth straight victory on Friday evening as the Captains (9-6) toppled No. 50 Haverford, 6-1. CNU has now won four straight matches against nationally-ranked opponents and improves to 5-5 on the year in ranked showdowns. 

Playing in their first road match of the season after ten at home and four neutral site bouts, the Captains earned a 6-1 win over the Fords and improved to 3-1 all-time against Haverford. 

The Captains kicked things off with the doubles point after wins at No. 1 and No. 3. CNU earned the first win at 3 when Eva Taylor and Erin Gross paired up for a 6-3 victory against Caroline Gay and Erika Phanord. Then, on the No. 1 court, nationally-ranked Raine Weis and Kylie Schaefer held off an upset bid from Rachael Fitzgerald and Mallika Reddy to clinch the doubles point, 7-5. 

Haverford took the remaining doubles match, but CNU surged ahead in the team scoring column, 1-0. 

In singles play, CNU clinched the match with the first three wins on the top three lines. Weis capped a perfect night with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Fitzgerald and added to her team-leading wins total with 14 in singles play this year. Schaefer quickly followed with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Lucy King at No. 2 and rookie Kendal Chang clinched the match when she disposed of Reddy by a score of 7-5, 6-4 at No. 3. 

With the team win in hand, the remaining three matches played out with CNU winning at 5 and 6. Samantha Robertson won at No. 5, downing Abhishree Menon in a marathon battle that stretched to 28 points in the third-set tiebreaker. She outlasted her Fords counterpart for a 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (15-13) win. Rounding out the night, Erin Gross capped a 2-0 day with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Gay at No. 6. 

A busy weekend for the nationally-ranked CNU women's tennis program continues on Saturday as they travel to Swarthmore College, ranked No. 27 in the nation, for a matchup against the Garnet. On Sunday, CNU will close out the three-match road trip at Washington College (Md.) in Chestertown, Md.