WASHINGTON, D.C. – Norfolk State women's tennis lost to Howard, 4-1, on Saturday in the team's first MEAC road test. Dajana Cvjetkovic was the lone winner for the Spartans (2-6, 1-1).
 
The Bison (4-7, 1-1) started off hot, sweeping all three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead.
 
At top-seeded doubles, Nathalie Finch and Yassmine Khiri defeated Paula Fortuno and Cvjetkovic, 7-5. HU also prevailed in No. 2-seeded doubles, where Nicole Hutchison and Kindha Nasef downed Ana Popovic and Bruna Goncalves, 6-0.
 
Aria Ragas and Christina Joynes completed the sweep with a 6-0 victory over Makayla Peterson and Nena Greenhouse on the third court.
 
Cvjetkovic improved to 6-2 in singles action on the season and 2-0 in MEAC play with a straight-sets victory over Finch, 6-4, 6-3, in the top-seeded flight.
 
On court three Hutchison defeated Popovic, 7-5, 6-2. Goncalves fell to Nasef, 6-0, 6-2 in the fourth-seeded match, and Joynes swept Peterson in fifth-seeded singles, 6-0, 6-0.
 
Two matches went unfinished. On the second court, Fortuno led Khiri in the third set, 5-3, after the duo split the first two sets, 6-2, 1-6. In the sixth-seeded flight, Greenhouse trailed Sajela Harlow, 6-0, 2-0.
 
The Spartans have one final non-conference tune-up at Longwood on April 8 before closing out the regular season with three-straight home contests against MEAC Northern Division foes.