FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The Christopher Newport men's tennis team opened up action at the 2026 ITA Southeast Regional Championships on Thursday and then quickly rolled through play on Friday with a dominant overall team performance. The Captains combined for 10 singles victories and seven doubles wins as the brackets have been trimmed to the final stages heading into Saturday. 

There were highlights abound for the CNU men's tennis program including an impressive run through the championship doubles bracket that sees two Captain tandems still playing for the title, scheduled to appear in the Round of 16 on Saturday morning. In singles, three CNU captains danced all the way to the Round of 16 before elimination in the championship draw and in the Blue 2 and 3 single draws will offer CNU opportunity to win bracket titles on Saturday. 

In doubles, #5-seed Rainer Christiansen and Gabe Smith earned a first-round bye and then disposed of Franklin & Marshall's Theo Oeltermann and Marco Romano in the Round of 32 by an 8-6 score. The CNU duo will play for a spot in the quarterfinals at 8:00 a.m. against Johns Hopkins' #9-seeded pair of Austin He and Andy Zhu. 

The other impressive showing came from Andrew Kinnear and Matt Miller, who paired up for a pair of wins in doubles play to reach the Round of 16. First, they won 8-4 against Lucas Bogle and Antonis Malavazo from Dickinson College before upsetting the #9-seed Mark Arboleda and Roberto Vazquez from Haverford in a thrilling 8-7 (4) final. The young Captains' tandem will also play at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday against #3-seed Muhundh Boopathi and Cole Langer from Hopkins. 

Rounding out championship draw doubles play was Ivan Ceric and Sam Halvorsen, going 1-1 with a loss to #9-seed Ryan Battaglia and Evan Fisher from Mary Washington in a razor-thin final of 8-7 (5). In B2 doubles, the Captains will play for the bracket championship at 8:00 a.m. as Anderson Fortney and David Garcia Carrasco played together and captured two wins. The Captains won 8-2 in the quarterfinals and 8-1 in the semifinals to advance to the weekend championship. 

In singles action it was Christiansen, Ceric, and Smith that reached the Round of 16 in the championship draw. All three took down seeded opponents in their runs including an epic win for Ceric against #4-seed Allan Xu from Johns Hopkins (7-5, 3-6, 10-7). Smith added a win against #5 Trevor Rein from Mary Washington (6-4, 6-4) and Christiansen disposed of #9-seed Chakor Sankaran Rajendra from Johns Hopkins (6-2, 6-3). 

In B2 singles, Matt Miller rolled through a couple of opponents to reach the semifinals and will compete against Shenandoah's Benjamin Brasfield at Noon on Saturday. Miller defeated Stevens' Tristan Wroe (6-3, 6-1) and Dickinson's Antonis Malavazos (6-1, 6-3). 

The B3 singles bracket saw Jamison Wallaced cruise to a pair of wins and reach the semifinals as well, where he will take on William Fromherz from Mary Washington at 1:00 p.m. He defeated Carlo Germeno Cortes from Goucher (6-0, 6-2) and Giovanni Garcia from Lynchburg (6-3, 6-3). 


SINGLES
B2 Singles
16 - Albert Vladimirskiy (Mary Washington) d. Anderson Fortney (CNU); 7-6 (7-4), 7-5
16 – Matt Miller (CNU) d. Tristan Wroe (Stevens); 6-3, 6-1
QF – Matt Miller (CNU) d. Antonis Malavazos (DC); 6-1, 6-3
SF – Matt Miller (CNU) vs. Benjamin Brasfield (SU); Sat. Oct 3 – 12:00 pm
 
B3 Singles
16 - Jamison Wallace (CNU) d. Carlo Germeno Cortes (Goucher); 6-0, 6-2
QF – Jamison Wallace (CNU) d. Giovanni Garcia (LYN); 6-3, 6-3
SF – Jamison Wallace (CNU) vs. William Fromherz (UMW); Sat. Oct 3 – 1:00 pm
 
Championship
64 - Rainer Christiansen (CNU) d. Braden Chavez (Carnegie Mellon); 6-4, 7-5
32 - Rainer Christiansen (CNU) d. #9 Chakor Sankaran Rajendra (Johns Hopkins); 6-2, 6-3
16 – Evan Fisher (UMW) d. Rainer Christiansen (CNU); 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
64 – Ivan Ceric (CNU) d. Joshua Buckland (Batten); 6-4, 6-3
32 – Ivan Ceric (CNU) d. #4 Allan Xu (Johns Hopkins); 7-5, 3-6, 10-7
16 –#9 Dutch Prather (WLU) d. Ivan Ceric (CNU); 2-6, 6-3, 10-7
64 – Gabe Smith (CNU) d. Ian Miller (Carnegie Mellon); 7-5, 6-2
32 – Gabe Smith (CNU) d. #5 Trevor Rein (Mary Washington); 6-4, 6-4
16 – Owen Kilmer (HAV) d. Gabe Smith (CNU); 6-4, 6-1
64 - #9 Nikola Galov (SWAT) d. Nathan Russell (CNU); 6-3, 6-1
64 – Seth Sadikov (SWAT) d. Andrew Kinnear (CNU); 6-1, 6-0

DOUBLES 
B2 Doubles
QF - Anderson Fortney / David Garcia Carrasco (CNU) d. Ben Price / Ford Robinson (HSC); 8-2
SF - Anderson Fortney / David Garcia Carrasco (CNU) d. Andres Ballerino / Francisco Ubeda (LYN); 8-1
F – Anderson Fortney / David Garcia Carrasco (CNU) vs. Thomas Davis / James Woerner (HSC); Sat. Oct 3 – 8:00 am
 
Championship Doubles
32 – #5 Rainer Christiansen / Gabe Smith (CNU) d. Theo Oeltermann / Marco Romano (FMC); 8-6
16 - #5 Rainer Christiansen / Gabe Smith (CNU) vs. #9 Austin He / Andy Zhu (Johns Hopkins); Sat. Oct 3 – 8:00 am
64 – Andrew Kinnear / Matt Miller (CNU) d. Lucas Bogle / Antonis Malavazo (DC); 8-4
32 – Andrew Kinnear / Matt Miller (CNU) d. #9 Marko Arboleda / Roberto Vazquez (HAV); 8-7 (7-4)
16 – Andrew Kinnear / Matt Miller (CNU) vs. #3 Muhundh Boopathi / Cole Langer (Johns Hopkins); Sat. Oct 3 – 8:00 am
64 – Christopher Cho / Pratik Nayak (Stevens) d. Jackson Grathwohl / Jamison Wallace (CNU); 8-3
64 – Ivan Ceric / Sam Halvorsen (CNU) d. Teodor Bortan / David Jin (HAV); 8-4
32 - #9 Ryan Battaglia / Evan Fisher (UMW) d. Ivan Ceric / Sam Halvorsen (CNU); 8-7 (7-5)