BALTIMORE, Md. –Vini Da Silva picked up a win at top-flight singles, but Norfolk State men's tennis could not complete its undefeated run through MEAC Northern Division contests. The Spartans (5-7, 2-1 MEAC) fell at preseason favorite Morgan State by a 4-1 score on Sunday.
 
A pair of 6-4 wins gave the doubles points to the Bears (10-6, 2-0 MEAC). Nihit Rawal and Oguzhan Ceylan topped Andres Alcaraz and Dan Dumitrascu on the third court, and Da Silva and Ignacio Guevel fell to Arjun Ramakrishnan and Serhii Kharchev in the second-seeded flight.
 
At top-flight doubles, Flavian Fernandez and Agustin Carrizo held a 4-1 edge over Shrey Gupta and Sebastian Lopez when doubles action concluded.
 
The Spartans took the first point of singles play but could not parlay the early victory into anything more substantial.
 
Da Silva took the first set of his top-seeded flight against Ramakrishnan, 6-2, before Ramakrishnan was forced to retire prior to the start of the second set.
 
MSU regained the lead on the third court, where Rawal downed Carrizo – 6-4, 6-2. Rawal's double partner, Ceylan, then topped Carrizo's double partner, Fernandez, by a 6-4, 6-4 score.
 
Lopez provided the clinching point in the No. 5-seeded flight – winning both of his sets against Dumitrascu by the same 6-1 margin.
 
Two singles flights went unfinished. On the second court, Alcaraz won his first set against Kharchev, 7-6, and the two were tied 3-3 in the second. Guevel held a 4-3 edge over Gupta at No. 6 singles.
 
With Sunday's loss, the Spartans missed their chance to complete a conference season with an unblemished record for the first time since 1997. However, NSU locked up second place in the Northern Division standings and will face the third-place team from the Southern Division in the quarterfinals of the MEAC Tournament, which begins on April 25 at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk.