HAMPTON, Va. -- The Morgan State men's tennis team defeated Hampton on the road, 4-3, on Sunday to retian its rightful title as the true 'King of the North' in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play.  The Bears clinched its fifth straight MEAC North Division title and earned the No. 1 North seed in the MEAC Championship under second-year head coach Matt Townes.

The Bears won their fourth straight match and improved to 12-10 overall and 5-0 in MEAC play, while Hampton fell to 6-14 overall and 2-2 in the conference.

"We fought so hard today," said Townes. "We got the doubles point early and that was the match for us."

"Hampton is a very strong team and I was thrilled with our resiliency today. We had two players go down with injuries this weekend and we were still able to pull through. Our main focus right now is to get healthy for the [MEAC] tournament next week. Next week comes our true test, and it should be fun to see how our guys will perform under pressure."

Jeremy Field posted a 6-4, 6-4 hard fought victory over Fedor Shirin in number two singles to lead the Bears. Arjun Ramakrishnan rallied from behind o post a 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 over Charles Hudson at number four, and Lucas Krusinski pulled off at 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win against Miguel Suarez at number five.

Treajh Ferguson and Evan Ward earned a 6-3 victory against Peter Odegbami and Fedor Shirin at number 1 doubles. The duo of Field and Ramakrishnan recorded a 6-0 shutout victory for the Bears at number 2 doubles.

The Bears close out the regular season with a non-conference matchup Tuesday, April 19 at UMBC. First serve is scheduled for noon.

The MEAC Championship will begin on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.

Morgan State 4, Hampton University 3
Apr 17, 2016 at Hampton, VA (Neilson-Screen Stadium) 

Singles competition

1. FOSTER-ESTWICK,Matt (HAMM) def. FERGUSON,Treajh (MSUM) 6-4, 7-6

2. FIELD,Jeremy (MSUM) def. SHIRIN,Fedor (HAMM) 6-4, 6-4

3. ODEGBAMI,Peter (HAMM) def. ANDRE,Felix (MSUM) 6-3, 6-0

4. RAMAKRISHNAN,Arjun (MSUM) def. HUDSON,Charles (HAMM) 0-6, 6-1, 6-2

5. KRUSINSKI,Lucas (MSUM) def. SUAREZ, Miguel (HAMM) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0

6. MCQUEEN,Joshua (HAMM) def. SATHYANARAYAN,Sagar (MSUM) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. FERGUSON,Treajh/WARD,Evan (MSUM) def. ODEGBAMI,Peter/SHIRIN,Fedor (HAMM) 6-3

2. FIELD,Jeremy/RAMAKRISHNAN,Arjun (MSUM) def. FOSTER-ESTWICK,Matt/MCQUEEN,Joshua (HAMM) 6-0

3. HUDSON,Charles/SUAREZ, Miguel (HAMM) def. ANDRE,Felix/KRUSINSKI,Lucas (MSUM) 6-2

Match Notes

Morgan State 12-10/5-0

Hampton University 6-14/3-2