Match Results
NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State women's tennis team saw its season come to an end with a 4-2 loss to North Carolina A&T State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at Old Dominion University's Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
Norfolk State, the No. 2 seed from the North, finished the season with a 6-8 mark. The Aggies, the South's No. 3 seed, improved to 6-13 and advanced to Friday's semifinal round at 9 a.m. against South Carolina State.
The Spartans found themselves in an early hole and never regained their footing. The Aggies claimed victory in two of the three doubles matches take a 1-0 lead. Norfolk State's top duo of
Dajana Cvjetkovic and
Liza Gordeeva defeated North Carolina A&T State's No. 1 team of Khalia Powell and Nadia Hilton-Adams 6-4. However, the Aggies claimed the doubles point with victories at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions. Sheyla Ramirez and Angelica Martinez registered a 6-1 win over
Paula Fortuno and
Aranza Mellet at the No. 2 position, while Klara Smolikova and Kanishka Chawla cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Spartans' No. 3 pair of
Bruna Goncalves and
Ana Popovic.
N.C. A&T continued that momentum into singles play, winning the first set in four of the six matches. Martinez went on to defeat Popovic 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 3 position, while Smolikova secured a 6-4, 6-1 win over Goncalves at the No. 5. Fortuno registered the Spartans' first point by downing Hilton-Adams 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 4 position.
The momentum seemed to be shifting to Norfolk State. Mellet won 7-6, 6-2 over Chawla at the No. 6 position to get NSU within 3-2 with the Spartans' top two singles players still playing, but it was not enough to carry the Spartans over the finish line. Gordeeva lost a hard-fought first set in which she had an early lead and was knotted at 2-2 in the second set when Mellet completed her match. However, Powell went on to win the final four games, clinching the match 7-6, 6-2, securing a spot in the semifinals for the the Aggies.
The only match that would go to a third-set was at the No. 1 position. Cvjetkovic dropped her first set to Ramirez 6-2 before battling back to take the second set 6-2. However, the match went unfinished with Ramirez ahead 2-1 when Powell clinched the victory for North Carolina A&T.
The Spartans are slated to return five of their six players from this season in 2017-18.
