ELON, N.C. –  The Norfolk State men's tennis team opened its 2023-24 campaign over the weekend, competing in the Elon Fall Invitational at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
 
The Spartans dropped several close singles matches on the opening day of competition, but picked up an impressive doubles victory in the Phoenix draw. Deniz Okya and Jakub Solarski combined to defeat Elon's Alonso Roca and Jake Pettingell 6-4.
 
The NSU pair lost a tight match to a North Carolina A&T doubles team later that day, but achieved single success the following afternoon. Solarski won a thrilling match over Roca 6-3, 2-6, 10-8 in the Phoenix draw, while Okya used a dominant finish to take down Ashe Ray 1-6, 7-6 (3), 10-0 in the Maroon draw. Raye played all of his singles matches at the No. 1 position for Wofford in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
 
The Spartans picked up another victory over a Wofford opponent on Saturday as well, with Boris Lunin defeating Owen Dooley 6-3, 6-3 in the Powell singles draw.
 
Okya and Solarski picked up where they had left off on Friday, beating East Tennessee State pair Alberto Garcia and Lucas Britez 6-4 on Sunday morning.