NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State men's and women's tennis teams make their home debuts this weekend with a trio of matches at the NSU Tennis Complex. The men's team hosts Navy on Friday at 2 p.m. The women's team opens conference play with a pair of matches against Delaware State on Saturday and Maryland Eastern Shore on Sunday, both are slated for 1 p.m. starts.
Men's tennis sits at 4-2 after a marathon trip to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. The Spartans played six times in the span of seven days, notching wins against Mount St. Mary's, Hampton, Niagara and NCAA Division-III's John Carroll. NSU also fell to Coastal Carolina and James Madison.
Consistency has been the Spartans' calling card this year, as head coach
Darryl Cummings has used the same singles and doubles lineups in each of the first six matches. NSU also consistently wins in singles play, posting an overall record of 18-10. Four players hold winning records in singles competition with
Vini Da Silva (3-0 at No. 2 singles) and
Ignacio Guevel (4-0 at No. 6 singles) boasting perfect records.
The pairing of Da Silva and Guevel also excels in doubles action, where the duo is 4-2 overall.
The Midshipmen (16-7) enter Friday having dropped their last two matches to Elon on March 11 and to Davidson two days later.
Navy is exceptionally deep with 12 different players who have competed in at least six dual matches. Romesh Kahatapitiya and Gabriel Pilones share the team lead with 12 dual victories. Kahatapitiya is a combined 7-0 at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, and Pilones is 5-0 at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
When teamed with Zach Jennings, Pilones is 11-2 in doubles competition, and the duo is 7-0 in the top-seeded slot.
Women's tennis (1-5) begins MEAC competition with the goal of surpassing its projected third-place finish in the Northern Division.
The Spartans authored a stunning comeback in their lone victory of the season, defeating Niagara 4-3 on March 6. NSU dropped the doubles point and the first two singles matches and were on the brink of defeat before rallying off four-straight singles wins to take the match.
Dajana Cvjetkovic went the distance in the top-seeded flight against Niagara, winning 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. On the season, Cvjetkovic is 4-2 in No. 1-seeded singles and garnered MEAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week honors on March 7.
Delaware State (3-1) suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday, falling to Morgan State 4-1. The Lady Hornets were picked to finish fifth in the Northern Division this year.
Maryland Eastern Shore (0-1) dropped its lone dual match of the season with a 5-2 loss to Coppin State on March 3. Sarah Adewumi prevailed over Tinashe Gwaze in the top-seeded singles flight and the pairing of Michal Kittrel and Alese Brown won, 6-2, in second-seeded doubles competition.
The men's tennis team hosts UC Riverside on March 28 before opening conference action at Howard on March 31. Norfolk State women's tennis next competes at Howard on March 31.
