Match Results

RALEIGH, N.C. – Florida A&M put an end to the Norfolk State men's tennis team's 2012 season with a 4-0 victory over the Spartans Saturday afternoon in the semifinal round of the MEAC Championship at the Millbrook Tennis Center.

The Rattlers won the second and third doubles matches, and then earned three straight victories in singles play to advance to the championship match Sunday against South Carolina State. NSU ended the year 13-14 overall, while Florida A&M improved to 15-9.

The Rattlers, the No. 2 seed in the MEAC Southern Division, took the early 1-0 lead in the match after winning the doubles point over the No. 4 seed Spartans. Fabrice Myrtil and Levan Clark downed the NSU duo of senior Christian Romanzini and sophomore Kent Austin, 8-2, at the No. 2 position.

Takura Happy and Temuera Asafu-Adjaye earned an 8-6 win over freshmen Igor Braga and Shaheed Mourillon-Swift at the No. 3 slot for the 1-0 lead in the match. At the No. 1 slot, seniors Arsenio Culver and Ben Marks led 7-5 over C Salif Kante and Chidi Gabriel before their match was called.

In singles play, Gabriel defeated Romanzini by a 6-0, 6-1 score at the No. 4 spot, and Happy pulled out a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Braga at the third singles position. Asafu-Adjaye helped the Rattlers advance to Sunday's match with a 6-3, 6-3 win over senior Roosevelt Cooper at the No. 6 spot.

Clark led Marks by a 6-3, 4-2 score in their match at the No. 2 position before play was called. In the other two matches, Kante led Culver, 6-4, 2-4, at the No. 1 slot, while freshman Daniel Grauel ran just out of time in his match against Myrtil at fifth spot. Grauel led by a 6-4, 5-0 margin prior to the end of the contest with the Rattlers.

The loss to Florida A&M marked the end of the collegiate careers for five of NSU's nine players, including Culver and Marks. Culver finished up with a 44-21 overall singles record in dual play, while Marks went 27-32 over his three-year career at NSU.

Culver, a three-time All-MEAC first-team performer, held a 43-18 doubles record. Marks, who earned second team All-MEAC honors in 2011, finished 35-15 overall in his doubles career. The duo also finished with a 32-10 record together.

Romanzini, meanwhile, went 9-29 overall in singles play and 11-23 in doubles in his two seasons with the Spartans, while Cooper went 7-18 in singles, 8-7 in doubles in his two seasons with the team in 2009 and '12. Junior Dexter McDowell will also graduate after finishing 6-16 in singles, 1-0 in doubles during his dual match career the last three years.