ORLANDO, Fla. – Norfolk State men's tennis kicked off the dual match portion of its schedule on the right foot by defeating Mount St. Mary's and Hampton over the weekend at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
 
The Spartans (2-0) defeated Mount St. Mary's 4-3 on Saturday before collecting a 5-2 victory over Hampton the next day.
 
Norfolk State 4, Mount St. Mary's 3
NSU trailed the Mountaineers (3-7) early after dropping the doubles points. The Spartans won in the No. 2-seeded doubles flight, as the duo of Flavian Fernandez and Agustin Carrizo defeated Gabriel Santos and Jean Armstrong, 6-3.
 
MSM won the other two doubles matches. In the No. 1-seeded position, Andres Alcaraz and Dan Dumitrascu fell to Brandon Wortkotter and Jackson Wood, 6-1. Vini Da Silva and Ignacio Guevel lost to Ethan Hine and Parth Sharma, 6-4, in the third-seeded doubles flight.
 
The Spartans roared back to take four of the six singles matches to secure the victory. Da Silva, Carrizo and Guevel all swept their singles matches with two-set victories, while Alcaraz won in thrilling fashion in the third set.
 
Alcaraz defeated Wortkotter in the top-seeded singles flight. The two split the first sets 6-3, 4-6 before Alcaraz took the decisive third set 6-3. The Pachuca, Mexico native clinched the match on a walk-off service ace.
 
Da Silva took the No. 2-seeded flight, 6-1, 7-5, over Wood. Carrizo swept Santos, 6-2, 6-4, in the No. 5-seeded match, and Guevel won over Hine in the sixth-seeded flight, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Dumitrasco went the distance with Sharma before falling in the third set of their No. 3-seeded match. The Bistrita, Romania won the opening set 6-2 before falling 6-4, 6-1 in the next two sets.
 
Armstrong won over Fernandez in the No. 4-seeded flight, 6-4, 6-2.
 
Norfolk State 5, Hampton 2
Once again, the Spartans found themselves in an early 1-0 hole after dropping two of the three doubles matches to the Pirates (0-4)
 
Matt Foster-Estwick and Fernando Fernandes took down Alcaraz and Dumitrascu 6-4 in the top-seeded match. Fernandez and Carrizo responded with a 6-4 victory over Fedor Shirin and Charles Hudson in the No. 2-seeded flight.
 
With the doubles point on the line, Da Silva and Guevel fell to Peter Odegbami and Luke Thompson in the third-seeded flight, 6-4.
 
The Spartans won their first four singles matches to clinch the win.
 
Da Silva sparked the rally with a 6-1, 6-1 straight-sets victory over Hudson in the No. 2-seeded flight. Carrizo picked up a two-set victory of his own – defeating Anthony Acholonu, 6-0, 6-1, in the fifth-seeded match.
 
Guevel pulled NSU to within a point of the win with a 6-1, 7-5 decision over Basil Post in the No-6-seeded match. The top-seeded flight decided the match, as Alcaraz downed Fernandes 6-4, 6-2 to give the Spartans the 4-1 advantage.
 
Hampton's lone singles victory came in the fourth-seeded flight, where Thompson defeated Fernandez 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6).
 
Dumitrascu completed the evening with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Odegbami in the third-seeded match.
 
The Spartans' extended stay in Florida continues with matches against Niagara on Tuesday, Costal Carolina on Wednesday, James Madison on Thursday and John Carroll on Friday.