WASHINGTON, D.C./BALTIMORE, Md. – The Spartans won a pair of matches over two days on the road this weekend, as Norfolk State men's tennis topped Howard and Coppin State to begin MEAC play.
NSU earned a 5-2 win over the Bison on Friday the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation – East Capitol Campus. The Spartans then came away with a 4-1 win over CSU on Saturday to bump their record to 5-3 overall, 2-0 in the league.
Against the Bison to start the trip, NSU won the doubles point and four of six singles matches. The senior duo of
Federico Rebecchini and
Ignacio Guevel won in both single and doubles. They earned a No. 1 doubles win over Roger Lyn and Gabe Knowles, 6-2. Rebecchini then won the first set, 7-6, including 7-4 in the tiebreaker, and the second set 6-1 at No. 2 singles over Justin Cadeau.
Guevel posted a 6-2, 6-0 victory at the fifth singles position over Phoenix Williams. The doubles points went NSU's way when freshmen
Ibrahim Abbas and
Ivan Ivars posted a 6-3 win over Williams and Pierce Westbrook.
Cadeau and Romani Mayers won at No. 2 doubles over the Spartan duo of senior
Andres Alcaraz and freshman
Santiago Rendon. But the NSU pair both won in singles. Alcaraz topped Lyn 6-4, 6-3, at No. 1 singles, and Rendon captured a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Knowles at the third position.
Ivars and Abbas both fell in three sets in their singles matches. Ivars won his first set, 6-4, at No. 4 singles over Mayers before his Howard opponent won 6-4 in the second and then 10-8 in the third-set tiebreaker. Abbas also won his first set, 6-4, against Westbrook at the sixth slot, but Westbrook came back to win the second set, 6-4, and the third-set tiebreaker, 10-8.
"It was a great first conference win," said head coach
Larry Holmes. "The guys played well, and we are working on getting better with every match."
The following day, NSU dropped the doubles point to Coppin State (1-6, 0-1 MEAC), but the Spartans claimed victories in the first four singles matches that were completed. Rebecchini and Guevel again both won in singles and doubles. They first teamed up for a 6-0 triumph over Dean Waterman and Christopher Green at the No. 1 doubles position.
Rebecchini claimed a 7-5, 6-4 win over Sergiu Medesan at No. 2 singles, and Guevel won his fifth position match, 6-0, 6-0, over Green. Alcaraz also won by a 6-0, 6-0 sweep, taking the No. 1 singles match against Waterman.
Rendon helped NSU close out the match with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Michael Michael at No. 3 singles. Ivars was on the way to a win as well, leading Vansh Kapoor 7-5, 5-4 at the fourth position before the match went unfinished. No. 6 singles also went unfinished.
Medesan and Kapoor (6-4) and Michael and Henrique Sada (6-3) won their No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, respectively, to give CSU the doubles point.
"We lost the doubles point, but I was impressed how we bounced back," said Holmes. "This is a good win to teach us how to be resilient. Tomorrow is important as we play for the Northern Division title. We will be ready."
NSU will close out the trip with a Sunday match at Morgan State.
