FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- In a top-25 showdown for the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference Championship, the top-seeded hosts and 13th-ranked Mary Washington Eagles outlasted the 25th-ranked Christopher Newport Captains, 4-2, to capture the team's fourth title in the last five years. CNU picked up a pair of wins in singles before the Eagles clinched the championship with the win at No. 4.
It marked the ninth time that Christopher Newport and Mary Washington were facing off in the conference championship match in the 12 seasons since the Captains joined the league. Last season, CNU hoisted its second conference crown since joining the league with a 4-2 win over the Eagles; this year, Mary Washington rebounded with a win by the same score on their home courts at the Hegmann Family Courts in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The title bout started with a doubles point win by the Eagles. Asher Willenborg and Trevor Rein, ranked No. 17 in the nation, captured the win at No. 1 doubles, 6-2, and Evan Fisher paired with Jack Riordan for the win at No. 2, 6-3.
Facing a 1-0 deficit headed into singles, the Captains found themselves down, 3-0, with wins on the top two lines for Willenborg, ranked No. 24 nationally, and Rein.
CNU responded with hard-fought victories for
Barrett Foster, at No. 3, and
Gabe Smith, at No. 5, to get the Captains right back in the match trailing 3-2. Foster took down Riordan with a 7-5, 6-4 win and Smith outlasted Cooper Lehman for a 6-4, 7-5 win.
The remaining two matches featured sophomore
Rainer Christiansen at No. 4 and rookie
Ivan Ceric at No. 6. Both CNU players managed to steal a set in their head-to-head matchups, but the clinching point came at No. 4 as Ryan Gipner lifted the home team to the victory. Christiansen suffered the loss, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, while Ceric won his first set before abandoning the match headed to the third set split at 4-6, 7-5.
CNU is now 12-10 all-time in the conference tournament under the direction of head coach
Eric Christiansen.
2026 C2C Men's Tennis All-Tournament Team
Mary Washington
Asher Willenborg (MVP)
Trevor Rein
Ryan Gipner
Christopher Newport
Barrett Foster
Gabe Smith
UC Santa Cruz
Ben Wang
Salisbury
Bobby Stabile
