Singles Results | Doubles Results
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Norfolk State men's tennis teams kicked off its 2011-12 campaign at the Hampton Roads Invitational this weekend at Huntington Tennis Park. NSU picked up several wins in doubles, then came back with a strong Day 2 in singles on Saturday before finishing up on Sunday.
In the first round of play on Saturday in singles action, senior Ben Marks, sophomore Kent Austin and senior Christian Romanzini all earned victories. Marks took down Kevin Zingler of Loyola (Md.), 6-4, 1-6, 10-6, in Flight 2, and Austin posted a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Zach Braig of William & Mary in Flight 5. Romanzini, meanwhile, won 6-2, 6-2 over Ian LeBlanc of Delaware, also in Flight 5.
In the second round, Romanzini won again, 6-3, 7-5, over Emmanuel Haug of Virginia State, but was unable to take the bracket championship, falling to Scott Keaton of George Mason, 6-3, 6-2. Marks could not keep the momentum going after his first round win, suffering a 6-1, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Felip Svensson of VCU before a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Ryan Pool of JMU on Sunday.
Austin, meanwhile, was upended by Scott Keaton of George Mason, 6-1, 6-0, and then ran out of gas against Virginia State's Haug, who won 5-7, 6-3, 12-10.
After opening up play with a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Troy Beneck of Delaware in Flight 1, senior Arsenio Culver downed James Madison's Hugo Ramadier, 6-4, 6-4, before finishing up play on Sunday with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Delaware's Adam Lawton.
After receiving a bye in the first round in Flight 6, freshman Shaheed Mourillon-Swift posted a 6-4, 5-7, 10-5 victory against Steve Hyre of George Mason. Matthew Brown of Virginia State stopped Mourillon-Swift in the bracket final, 6-2, 3-6, 10-5.
Also competing in Flight 6, sophomore Brian Bullock lost to Nicholas Pfab of Virginia State in the first round, 6-2, 7-6, before grabbing a second-round win, 6-2, 6-4, over Eric Michaelis of Loyola (Md.). Bullock then won by default over Virginia State's Brown on Sunday.
Junior Dexter McDowell competed in the last flight of the tournament, Flight 7, where he suffered a 6-4, 6-1 defeat at the hands of Avery Saunders of Virginia State. McDowell also came up short in his next match, 6-2, 6-2, to Tom Hamm of Loyola (Md.).
The team got its season started on Friday in doubles play. Culver and Marks competed in a difficult Flight 1 and held their ground, but were unable to put out a win. The pair fell to Jamie Vazquez and Alejandro Argente of VCU, 8-5, followed by an 8-6 loss to Delaware's Beneck and Lawton and a 9-7 setback to James Madison's Ramadier and Greg Vladimirsky.
The Bullock-Austin tandem and the Romanzini-Mourillon-Swift duo both saw action in Flight 3, with each pair pulling out a win on the day. Romanzini and Mourillon-Swift downed Virginia State's Nicholas Brown and Matthew Brown, 8-0, in the second round while Bullock and Austin defeated the same pair by an 8-6 score in the last round.
Bullock and Austin also lost to Delaware's Jason Derene and LeBlanc and George Mason's Hyre and Patrick Mulguin by 8-5 scores in the first and second rounds of the bracket, respectively, while Romanzini and Mourillon-Swift fell to Keyan Sanai and Harrison Kunkel of Loyola (Md.), 8-6, in the first round and Hyre and Mulquin, 8-4, in the third round.
McDowell and Virginia State's Evan Dirksen defeated Dirksen's teammates Pfab and K'wmane Tonkins, 8-4, in Flight 4, after losing to Haug and Saunders of Virginia State, 8-4, earlier in the day.
