SAVANNAH, Ga. – Norfolk State women's tennis dropped its third match in a row, losing 6-1 to Savannah State on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Spartans (1-5) dropped the doubles point to fall behind 1-0. Tyrika Lee and Makayla Peterson fell to Ekaterina Vorobeva and Shakendra Alston, 6-0, in the third-seeded match.
 
The Lady Tigers (1-10) took the next two doubles flights as well. Sansriti Ranjan and Muskaan Ranjan prevailed, 6-2, over Dajana Cvjetkovic and Paula Fortuno in the top-seeded match before Rachinda El Kateb and Sofia Shut'ko defeated Ana Popovic and Bruna Goncalves, 6-4.
 
SSU raced ahead to a 3-0 lead after winning the first two singles matches. El Kateb blanked Nena Greenhouse, 6-0, 6-0, in the sixth-seeded flight to kick off singles play. Alston then swept Lee, 6-0, 6-0, in the No. 5-seeded flight.
 
Norfolk State's lone point of the day came in top-seeded singles, where Cvjetkovic downed Vorobeva, 6-0, 6-0.
 
The deciding point came at No. 3-seeded singles. Muskaan Ranjan defeated Popovic in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0, to secure the victory.
 
Sansriti Ranjan rallied from an early hole to win in No. 4-seeded singles. The junior from Bangalore, India fell behind Goncalves, 6-4, in the first set before winning the next two, 6-0, 6-1.
 
Second-seeded singles also went to a decisive third set. Fortuno bested Shut'ko, 6-4, in the first set for dropping the second in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (4). Shut'ko then won 10-7 in a super tiebreaking set.
 
The Spartans open conference play on March 24, when they host Delaware State at 1 p.m. Maryland Eastern Shore then comes to town for a showdown the next day.