Hampton Match Results              Duquesne Match Results             Mount St. Mary's Match Results

ORLANDO, Fla. -  Andres Alcaraz and Vini Da Silva each had a hand in five victories for the Norfolk State men's tennis team during the spring break trip, but that was not enough to lead to an NSU victory, as the short-handed Spartans began the season 0-3 with three loss at the USTA National Campus.

Da Silva went 2-1 in singles action and Alcaraz added a singles victory, while the two combined to go 2-1 at the No. 1 doubles position for Norfolk State for the week. But the Spartans dropped their season opener against Hampton 5-2 on Wednesday, before being shut out in their second match of the day by Duquesne, 7-0.  They would lose their third and final match of the week in a tightly-contested 4-3 match against Mount St. Mary's.

Here is a recap of the week's matches:

Mount St. Mary's 4, NSU 3
Alcaraz teamed with Dumitrascu for his second doubles victory of the week by defeating the Mount St. Mary's duo of Darren Mast and Mateo DeSomocurcio 6-4. But for the second time in two matches, the Spartans lost the final two doubles matches and the point.

In singles action, the top three positions earned victories for Norfolk State, but Brandon Wortkoter secured the victory for Mount St. Mary's with a victory at the No. 4 position.

Alcaraz defeated DeSomocurcio 6-1, 0-6, 1-0 (7-6), while Dumitrascu earned a straight-set victory over Mast 6-2, 6-3. Da Silva dominated Louis Tonon 6-0, 6-0, before Wortkoter's 6-3, 6-3 victory over Fernandez.
 
Duquesne 7, NSU 0
The Spartans earned a victory at the No. 1 doubles position with a 6-3 victory by Alcaraz and Dumitrascu over Duquesne's team of Adam Blasinsky and Chris Corrao. However, Norfolk State was unable to earn the point by losing at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles.

The Dukes swept all six of the singles matches. Alcaraz and Da Silva forced third-set tiebreakers before falling to Blasinsky and Dimitris Stavropoulo respectively. Playing at the top position, Alcaraz fell 2-6, 7-6, 0-1 (7-10), while Da Silva fell 4-6, 7-6, 0-1 (8-10) at the No. 3 position.

Hampton 5, NSU 2
Alcaraz and Da Silva dropped their doubles match to Juan Araoz and Matt Foster-Estwick 6-3 at the No.1 position, while Hampton's Fedor Shirin and Luke Thompson defeated Dan Dumitrascu and Flavian Fernandez 7-6.NSU, playing with just four players all week, defaulted at the No. 3 doubles, and Nos. 5 and 6 singles positions in each of their three matches.

In singles action, Da Silva and Fernandez earned points for the Spartans at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively. Da Silva defeated Shirin in straight sets (6-3, 6-1), while Fernandez secured a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Charles Hudson.

Norfolk State will next be in action on March 25 when it travels to Harrisonburg, Va., to face James Madison at 2 p.m.