WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Norfolk State men's tennis team began the conference portion of its schedule with a bang with a 4-0 sweep of Howard at the Banneker Recreation Center on Saturday.
 
The Spartans (6-3, 1-0 MEAC) won two of three in doubles competition to take a 1-0 lead.
 
At first-seeded doubles, Andres Alcaraz and Dan Dumitrascu defeated Karim Shokeir and Sagar Raju, 6-3. Agustin Carrizo and Flavian Fernandez came up with a 6-0 victory over Kyle Martin and Devaughn Blackburn in the No. 3-seeded flight.
 
The Bison (0-11, 0-2) prevented the doubles sweep with a 6-3 win by Cole Gittens and Roger Lyn over Ignacio Guevel and Vini Da Silva in the second-seeded match.
 
Three straight-sets victories in singles action wrapped up the win for NSU.
 
At No. 1 singles, Da Silva downed Lyn, 6-3, 6-2. Alcaraz followed suit with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Gittens on the second court. Dumitrascu came through in the fourth-seeded match, beating Raju, 6-3, 6-1.
 
Fernandez and Shokeir were in a stalemate on court three when the match ended. Fernandez dropped the first set 6-3 but won 6-3 in the second set.
 
Carrizo and Martin were tied 2-2 in the first set of the fifth-seeded flight, and Blackburn had a 1-0 lead over Guevel in the first set of the No. 6-seeded match.
 
NSU visits Longwood on April 8 before hosting three conference opponents to close out the regular season.