CARY, N.C. — Just one day after earning spots on the All-MEAC Tennis teams, Federico Rebecchini and Adam Kaczmarek embraced in jubilation on the same court Thursday evening, earning the pivotal doubles win to give Norfolk State a 4-3 victory over Howard in the MEAC Quarterfinals 

Inclement weather moved the match indoors at Cary Tennis Park, and forced the teams to dive straight into singles play. With only three available courts, the top three players in each lineup squared off first. 

The Spartans got on the board first, thanks to a valient performance by Federico Rebecchini at the No. 1 position. Trailing 4-1 to Justin Cadeau in the opening set, the Norfolk State senior stormed back to tie the set 6-6. Facing set point down 7-6 in the ensuing tiebreak, Rebecchini rattled off three consecutive points to win the set. 

Rebecchini dominated the rest of the match, earning a 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 straight sets victory to give Norfolk State the first point of the afternoon. 

Adam Kaczmarek kept the momentum going, notching a hard-earned, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Daniel Dunac at the No. 3 position. The Spartans had raced out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of thrilling matches. 

In what may have been the most exciting battle of the afternoon, Hugo Massoni Lena and Marcel Dawson traded acrobatic shot after acrobatic shot, neither showing any signs of letting up. Dawson eventually prevailed 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 at the No. 2 slot to put Howard on the board. 

The injury bug continued to plague the Spartans, as Ibrahim Abbas suffered an ankle injury that forced him to retire from his singles match, evening the match at 2-2. But Boris Lunin stepped up with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Gabe Knowles at No. 5 singles to push NSU back in front. 

Pierce Westbrook defeated Saadiq Hinton 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 6 position, extending the match into doubles play. 

Knowles and Westbrook beat Hinton and Roosevelt Brown III 6-0 to strike first in doubles, but Massoni Lena and Lunin cruised past Daniel Dunac and Hissmiyou Dieng 6-2 to make things all square. The match would come down to the No. 1 doubles position. 

Rebecchini and Kaczmarek fell behind early, trailing 4-1 against Cadeau and Dawson with the momentum slipping away. When the Howard duo went up 5-3, the Spartan pair staved off three match points before securing the crucial game to stay alive. 

The match went into a tiebreak for all of the marbles, a spot in Friday's semifinal on the line. The Spartans prevailed in the tensest of moments, as Rebecchini and Kazmarek earned a clinching 7-6 (7-4) victory to send their squad into the next round.