Match Results

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – The Norfolk State men's tennis team won four different matches via the tiebreaker on the way to a 5-2 victory over South Dakota State on Friday afternoon for the Spartans' first victory of the season.
 
The Jackrabbits had won nine of their past 10 matches coming into the day, including wins over MEAC opponents North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central and Hampton. NSU, though, won several nail biters to improve to 1-9 this year.
 
Playing their second match in three days at Sanlando Park, NSU got started by winning the doubles point despite defaulting at the third position due to its shorthanded lineup.
 
At the No. 1 spot, freshmen Benedikt Henning and Flavian Fernandez needed a tiebreaker against Emerson Styles and Mateus Moreira. It was all Spartans at that point, as they won 7-1 to win the overall match, 7-6.
 
Then at the second doubles position, the sophomore tandem of Antonio Pejic and Fatehdeep Singh came away with a much easier 6-2 victory.

"Our doubles did a great job, especially at No. 1 where they came back from a 4-1 deficit to put us up 1-0," said head coach Worth Richardson. "Singles was an absolute battle and we really stepped up. This was a great team effort to get our first win of the season."
 
Henning and Pejic won the first and third singles positions, respectively, in a tiebreaker as well. Both also rallied after dropping the first set.
 
Henning actually fell his first set against Lovro Curcija, 7-6, including 7-5 in the tiebreaker. He dominated in the next set, winning 6-0, and then won the third-set tiebreaker, 10-3.
 
Pejic, meanwhile, dropped the first set to Henrique Pereira, 6-2, before taking the next set, 6-3. In the third set tiebreaker, Pejic earned a 10-4 win to move NSU one step closer to victory.
 
Singh helped secure the win by also winning a third set tiebreaker following a loss in the first set at No. 5 singles. Moreira won by a 6-4 margin before Singh won set 2, 6-2. Like Pejic, Singh also won the third set tiebreaker by a 10-4 margin.
 
Fernandez gave NSU its fourth singles win and fifth point of the match by winning at the fourth spot in the lineup. He downed Lucas Pereira in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-4.
 
The Jackrabbits earned one of their two match points by winning the sixth position by default. They also won at No. 2 singles in three sets. NSU freshman Dan Dumitrascu actually came away with a first set win, 6-0, over Styles. After a 6-2 win for his S.D. State opponent in the second set, Dumitrascu also fell in the third set tiebreaker by a 10-7 score.
 
South Dakota State dropped to 9-6 overall this year with the loss.
 
NSU will finish out the spring break trip in Florida on Sunday when the Spartans play at MEAC Southern Division opponent Bethune-Cookman at 9 a.m. in Daytona Beach.