BLUEFIELD, W.Va. - The Shaw University men's tennis team defeated Chowan University 5-2 on Sunday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament. The Bears advance to face host Bluefield State College on Monday in the Regional Championship match at 11:00 a.m.
With the win, Shaw - the fourth seed in the region - improves to 15-5 overall, while the Hawks - who were the fifth seed - end their season with a 17-10 overall record.
Shaw opened doubles play taking a 2-1 lead. At number one doubles, Charles Silva and Sergio Cuartas downed Farid Hajizada and Ivan Doubograev 9-7. Bach Tran and Juan Sanchez edged Tristan Martin and Sasha Kirsanov 9-8 in the third position. Chowan's Pedro Aiala and Danilo Galovic earned an 8-3 doubles victory over Gafur Sirojiddinov and Andre Monti at the number two position.
In singles play, Cuartas defeated Aiala 6-3, 6-0 in the number two position while Sanchez topped Carlos Ramirez 6-0, 6-1 in the fourth spot to give the Bears a 4-1 lead.
Hajizada defeated Silva 6-4, 6-3 at the number one position to cut the Shaw lead to 4-2, but then Monti downed Galovic 7-6, 6-1, giving Shaw the 5-2 win. Matches in the third and fifth positions remained unfinished using the first-to-five format.
The Bears faced Bluefield State earlier this season, dropping the match 5-1. The Blues are 17-3 this season, earning the number one seed in the Atlantic Region. The winner of the match will advance to the NCAA Tournament Finals, which features 16 teams.
