Match Results

NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State women's tennis team fell to East Carolina by a 7-0 score on Saturday evening as the Spartans opened their 2016 spring season against the Pirates at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the campus of ODU.
 
The Pirates (2-2) won the last two doubles matches and had sweeps in the lower five singles matchups to earn the overall sweep of the Spartans. NSU had its best outing at the top spot in the lineup, though.
 
Sophomore Dajana Cvjetkovic won the first set over Celia Ruiz by a 6-4 score. Ruiz then came back to squeeze by Cvjetkovic in the second set, 7-6. Playing a third set tiebreaker, it was Ruiz who ultimately came away with the win after taking the tiebreaker, 10-6.
 
"We were pleased with our first match of the year," said NSU head coach Worth Richardson. "We would have liked to have done better, which is always the case, but ECU is a tough first opponent. We are now better prepared for the rest of our season."
 
At the opposite end of the lineup at the No. 6 slot, senior Mafalda Lhorca dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Annija Veinsteina. One spot higher at No. 5, junior Ana Popovic lost by a 6-0 margin to Sarah Sarjoo in the first set before giving Sarjoo a run for her money in the second set, an eventual 7-5 loss for the Spartan.
 
In the other three singles matches, Michelle Castro defeated freshman Marta Gomar by a 6-2, 6-3 score at the No. 2 position. Junior Liza Gordeeva fell by a 6-1, 6-2 score at the third slot to Maria Storozheva, while Katie Hoch downed senior Andrea Macchiavello, 6-1 and 6-3, at the fourth spot in the lineup.
 
ECU also won the second and third doubles matchups by identical 6-1 scores to earn the doubles point. Sarjoo and Storozheva defeated Lhorca and Macchiavello at the No. 2 spot, while Castro and Veinsteina did the same to Gordeeva and Gomar at the third position.
 
Popovic and Cvjetkovic were trailing in a tight 3-2 matchup at the No. 1 doubles position to Ruiz and Betsy Zurawel before it was called due to ECU winning the doubles point before the end of the contest.
 
NSU will travel to Mary Washington next Saturday for a 10 a.m. match.