FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- The second-seeded Christopher Newport women's tennis team successfully defended its two-time conference crown on Sunday afternoon at the Hegmann Family Courts and captured the program's third straight Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship. The Captains, ranked No. 36 in the ITA national rankings, defeated #1-seed and host Mary Washington, ranked No. 26 nationally, by a final score of 4-1 to lift the 2026 C2C Women's Tennis Championship trophy.
The win signifies the fifth conference title in program history and the third straight since ending the Eagles' near two-decade tenure at the top of the league in 2024.
The victoy was spurred by a momentous win at No. 1 doubles pitting two of the nation's top tandems against each other in a pivotal matchup. For CNU,
Kendal Chang and
Kylie Schaefer, ranked No. 21 nationally, paired up against the 11th-ranked duo from Mary Washington, Addison Felts and Natalie Kim. For Schaefer, it was the third time facing the top tandem in the league after dropping a match to the Eagles in the CNU Mock Dual Invite with partner
Lindsey Bergelin, 6-2, and again falling to Felts and Kim with Chang during the regular season matchup, 6-4. The third time is the charm, as Schaefer and Chang rolled past the nationally-ranked pairing for a 6-2 win and a momentum-shifting doubles-point victory.
The doubles point was secured moments later when
Emma Carver and CNU's lone senior,
Eva Taylor, paired up for a 6-3 win over Sarah Sandoval Banuelos and Mady Holman. The victories lifted CNU to a 1-0 lead heading into singles action.
Mary Washington evened the score with the first win at No. 1, but the Captains quickly rallied to re-take the lead behind Bergelin at No. 6 and Chang's second win of the day at No. 2. Bergelin took down Naomi Feltman, 6-2, 6-3, and Chang wrapped up her day with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Kim.
With the remaining three matches all played to three sets, it was freshman
Emma Carver that picked up the championship-clinching win at No. 5. Taylor at No. 3 and
Samantha Robertson at No. 4 had each forced a third set against their Eagles counterpart as well, but Carver outlasted Evie Snyder to pick up the decisive blow at No. 5. The freshman celebrated her first title with the Captains after clinching the victory 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
Earning the championship victory, Christopher Newport improved to 9-11 overall this season.
