NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State women's tennis started a four-match home stand with a 7-0 loss to rival Hampton on Thursday at the NSU Tennis Complex.
 
The Lady Pirates (6-6, 4-0 MEAC) solidified their hold atop the Northern Division standings by winning two of three in doubles competition and winning five singles flights in straight sets.
 
HU received a head start in doubles play after the Spartans (2-8, 1-2) defaulted at No. 3 doubles. The Lady Pirates clinched the point with a 7-5 victory over Dajana Cvjetkovic and Paula Fortuno in the top-seeded flight.
 
The second-seeded doubles match went unfinished, but Hampton's Cherise Slocombe and Julia D'Auvergne held a 6-5 edge over Ana Popovic and Bruna Goncalves at the time.
 
Hampton then swept its way through singles competition.
 
On the second court, Kiah Turner started singles action by defeating Fortuno 6-3, 6-3. Slocombe followed with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Popovic in the third-seeded flight.
 
Ana Romanova clinched the match at No. 5 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Tyrika Lee. HU continued rolling at sixth-seeded singles, where D'Auvergne downed Nena Greenhouse 6-0, 6-0.
 
In the second-to-last match of the day, Goncalves fell to Haley Mullins, 6-4, 6-3, in the fourth-seeded flight.
 
The match ended on a thrilling note as Cvjetkovic and Yulia Kapitanova dueled over three sets on the first court. Cvjetkovic got the upper hand in the first set, winning 7-5, but dropped the next two to Kapitanova, 6-4, 7-5.
 
Three home matches remain on the schedule for NSU. Next up is a Sunday afternoon affair with Morgan State at 3 p.m.