CHARLOTTE, NC- The CIAA Men's Championship match came down to the wire but Shaw had the final say as the Chowan University men's tennis team fell 5-4 to the Bears on Saturday evening. The Bears advance to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament with the win, having earned an automatic bid.
Shaw posts a 9-7 record on the season while Chowan stands 12-11 on the year.
The Bears took two out of three wins in doubles play to gain momentum early in the contest. Diego Choque and Sergio Cuartas took the number one spot over Rafael Goncalves and Farid Hajizada in an 8-5 decision. Bach Tran and Juan Sanchez topped Tristan Martin and Danilo Galovic 8-2 in the number two spot. Ivan Doubograev andSasha Kirsanov were credited with a win by forfeit in the third position.
Carlos Ramirez picked up a win by forfeit in the number six position, knotting the score 2-2. The Hawks grabbed the wins in the number one and two singles positions.
The Bears responded as Juan Sanchez outlasted Enrique Barge 7-5, 6-3 in the fifth position and Choque downed Doubograev 6-0, 6-3. With the match tied 4-4, Martin and Tran battled through tiebreaker play with the title on the line. Tran ultimately prevailed, topping Martin 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
