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Men's Tennis Mike Bello, Asst. SID

Spartans Win Doubles Point in 6-1 Loss to Longwood

Box Score

FARMVILLE, Va. – Norfolk State won two of three doubles matches to earn the early 1-0 lead, but Longwood won all six singles matches as the Lancers downed the NSU men's tennis team, 6-1, Wednesday afternoon at the Lancer Courts.

The Spartans fell to 4-8 on the season despite the early success when the team won the first and third doubles positions. NSU had opportunities to either win or push three of the singles matches into a third set, but thes Spartans ultimately fell short against Longwood, which improved to 2-5 overall.

Seniors Arsenio Culver and Ben Marks helped give NSU the double point after an 8-2 victory at the No. 1 spot over Daniel Elston and Giorgi Khmiadashvili. A pair of freshman, Igor Braga and Shaheed Mourillon-Swift, picked up the win at the third slot, 8-5, against Steed Johnson and Nobu Tanaka.

Longwood prevented the NSU sweep in doubles by taking the second position, 8-4, as Edward Becker and Harry Kelleher downed Spartan freshman Kent Austin and senior Christian Romanzini.

Romanzini faced Becker at No. 4 singles later in the afternoon, where he fell oh-so-short to his Longwood opponent in the first set, 7-6 (7-5). Becker won the match with a 6-3 victory in the second set.

Along with Romanzini, Culver and Marks also gave their opponents a scare in singles play. Marks fell in the first set by a 6-4 score to Khmiadashvili at No. 2 singles and then won the second, 7-6, after a 7-2 win in the tiebreaker. Marks, though, could not complete the comeback, as Khmiadashvili won the super-tiebreaker in the third set, 10-8.

Culver, meanwhile, lost the first set to Tanaka, 6-3, at the top spot in the lineup before falling by a 7-2 score in the second set tiebreaker on the way to a 7-6 loss in the set. At the No. 3 position, Braga lost to Elston, 6-0, 6-2, while Austin dropped his No. 6 match to Johnson, 6-1, 6-2. Kelleher swept NSU freshman Daniel Grauel at the No. 5 slot, 6-0, 6-0.

NSU will return to conference play Sunday when the team takes on South Carolina State on the road at 11 a.m. in Orangeburg, S.C.
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