B-CU Match Results | S.C. State Match Results
SUMTER, S.C. – The Norfolk State women's tennis team gave Bethune-Cookman all it could handle, but the Wildcats escaped with a 4-3 win over the Spartans on Thursday in the MEAC Round-Up.
In the later match on the day, six-time defending MEAC champion South Carolina State cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Spartans.
Against the Wildcats, the Spartans won three of the six singles matches and the No. 3 doubles match, a 9-8 (3) win by senior Jennifer Astbury and sophomore Rebecca Graff over Nancy Gonzales and Laura Rodriguez. Bethune-Cookman won the other two doubles bouts to take the early 1-0 lead.
Junior Naeemah Brooks and freshman Gabriella Jonsson fell by an 8-5 score to Katarina Szaboova and Stacey Lopez at No. 1 doubles, while senior Chenge Tsapayi and freshman Maryna Kariuk lost to Sheree Peterson-Paul and Andrea Paez, 8-1, at No. 2.
Jonsson, Graff and Kariuk each won their respective singles matches for the Spartans. Jonsson, at No. 2 singles, defeated Peterson-Paul in the first set, 6-3, before dropping the second set by the same 6-3 margin. Jonsson then won the third-set tiebreaker, 10-4, for the victory.
Graff defeated Gonzales at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 7-5, while Kariuk earned the win at the No. 6 slot, 6-2, 6-1. In the other matches, Astbury lost to Szaboova at the No. 1 slot, 6-1, 6-0, Brooks dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Lopez at No.3 singles, and Tsapayi came up short by a 6-3, 6-3 score to Paez at No. 4.
Against South Carolina State, Jonsson and Brooks fell by an 8-2 score to Daria Sekerina and Maria Craciun at No. 1 doubles, while Graff and Astbury, at the No. 2 slot, and Kariuk and Tsapayi, at No. 3, both got swept, 8-0.
Astbury fell in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, to Sekerina at the top singles position, and Jonsson came up short, 6-1, 6-3, to Suhaila Jad at No. 2. Akilah James knocked off Brooks at the No. 3 position, 6-0, 6-1, while Craciun won, 6-1, 6-0, over Tsapayi at the No. 4 slot.
In the other two matches of the afternoon, Sabrina Mendez swept Graff at the fifth spot, 6-0, 6-0, and Laura Bosneag held a 4-0 lead over Kariuk at the sixth position before Kariuk retired from the match.
NSU will be back in action Friday when the Spartans face North Carolina A&T at 1 p.m.
