NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Three weeks after being tapped a top-25 team in the preseason poll, the Christopher Newport men's tennis team backed up the early billing with a dominant win over an NCAA Division I program to start the spring season. The Captains (1-0), ranked No. 24 in the ITA Preseason Poll, dropped Hampton University (0-1) by a final score of 6-1 at the James River Country Club on Saturday afternoon. 

The Captains jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by sweeping all three doubles matches for the doubles point. Barrett Foster and Vincent Truong snuck by their opponents, Benedict Badza and Rafael Padilha, on the top line in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3). In the other two bouts, the Captains won without needing extra points. At No. 2, Gabe Smith and Nesh Kumaresan defeated Aryan Arora and Tshion Federov (6-4) and, at No. 3, Rainer Christiansen paired with Nathan Russell for a win over Kohei Konishi and Benjamin Mwanza (6-2). 

Moving into singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Captains cruised to the clinching point quickly. CNU won at No. 1 and the remaining matches between 3-6 with the lone loss coming at No. 2 for the final verdict of 6-1. 

Making an impressionable collegiate debut in dual action, Nathan Russell swept his first day with a win at No. 1 over Padilha. The rookie escaped a first set tiebreaker before pulling away in the second to capture his first career win, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Another newcomer to the lineup in graduate student Barrett Foster also captured a win in the season opener with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Badza at No. 3. 

Rounding out the solid win for the Captains were Kumaresan over Konishi (6-4, 6-1) at No. 4, Smith downing Arora at No. 5 (6-4, 3-6, 10-4), and Christiansen rolling to a win against Mwanza at No. 6 (6-0, 6-1). 

CNU will next play against RIT on Friday, February 13 at 5:00 p.m. at the James River CC. The Captains will also welcome Averett University for a Sunday matinee on the 15th with match time set for Noon.