PASADENA (Mar. 5, 2020) – The 23rd-ranked Caltech men's tennis team scored its fourth consecutive victory on Thursday afternoon, this time over Christopher Newport University, 7-2.

The Beavers came out strong in the early going against the Captains, setting a tone with some strong doubles play. Juniors Varun Shanker (Midland, Mich. / Midland Dow) and James Wei (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) earned a decisive 8-5 victory over CNU's top double team, and freshman Rishi Gundakaram (Wyoming, Del. / Caesar Rodney) once again teamed with sophomore Matthew Gonzalgo (Plantation, Fla. / St. Thomas Aquinas) to win at third doubles, 8-6, after earning another victory earlier in the week. 

"We got some clutch serving from Rishi and Varun in doubles to help us take a 2-1 lead and some momentum into singles," Head Coach Jason Cohen said. "We started off strong with a couple of dominant first set wins that kept us rolling and we never looked back."

The momentum carried into singles action, where Shanker and Wei each earned straight-set victories at first and second singles. Shanker defeated his opponent 6-3, 6-3, while Wei picked up a 6-0, 6-3 victory. Senior Miha Valencic (Colleyville, Texas / Grapevine), the program's newly-minted career singles wins record holder, staved off an early challenge from his opponent at sixth singles, but pulled through a with a straight-sets victory in the final match of the day to finish. Sophomore Patryk Kozlowski (Irvine, Calif. / University High) also contributed in singles, with a dominant 6-2, 6-0 victory out of the fifth spot. The quickest singles win of the day belonged to junior Kevin Yu (Mason, Ohio / Cincinnati Country Day), who dispatched his opponent, 6-0, 6-1 at third singles. Caltech has now run its current winning streak to four matches and has now successfully matched its 5-2 start from the prior season. This year also marks the first time in recorded history the Beavers have opened to a 4-0 home record.

Cohen and the Beavers will return to the court next week when they host No. 32 Swarthmore College on Monday, Mar. 9 at 3 p.m.

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