BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Morgan State men's tennis team defeated Norfolk State, 5-2, on Saturday afternoon at the MSU Tennis Courts. After earning the doubles point, the Bears captured four of six singles matches en route to their fifth straight victory.

"We took care of business today and remained undefeated at home and in the division," said MSU coach Matthew Townes. "We stepped up big in doubles play and that really set the stage for the rest of the match."

Morgan State (7-12, 4-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)  picked up wins in first and second doubles to claim the doubles points and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Norfolk State (3-7, 2-1) would only win two other matches at first and sixth, as the Bears would close out singles play with four victories.

"I'm glad the team was able to send Sagar (Sathyanarayanan) off with a win on 'Senior Day', even though he unfortunately didn't come up with wins," Townes said. "We lost a tough battle at number 1, with nine deuce games that could have gone either way. Sagar lost at number 6, but the rest of the guys were able to really be clutch for us when it mattered."

Nihit Rawal got it started by registering a 6-3, 6-2 win in fifth singles and Arjun Ramakrishnan followed with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in third singles. Following a tough loss by Lucas Krusinksi to Andres Alcaraz at number one singles, the Bears bounced back with a pair of wins by Ondrej Labik and Jeremy Field at the number 5 and 2 singles, respectively.

"Time for us to look ahead to championships and continue the strong play." 

The MEAC Championships are scheduled for April 20-22 in Norfolk, Va.
 

Morgan State 5, Norfolk State 2
Apr 15, 2017 at Baltimore, Md.
(MSU Tennis Courts)
 
Doubles competition
1. LABIK,Ondrej/RAWAL,Nihit (MSUM) def. ALCARAZ, Andres/DUMITRASCU,Dan (NSUM) 7-6
2. KRUSINSKI,Lucas/FIELD,Jeremy (MSUM) def. FERNANDEZ,Flavian/CARRIZO, Agustin (NSUM) 6-3
3. GOMEZ/GUEVEL, Ignacio (NSUM) def. RAMAKRISHNAN,Arjun/SATHYANARAYANAN,S. (MSUM) 6-4

Singles competition
1. ALCARAZ, Andres (NSUM) def. KRUSINSKI,Lucas (MSUM) 7-5, 6-2
2. FIELD,Jeremy (MSUM) def. GOMEZ (NSUM) 6-1, 7-6
3. RAMAKRISHNAN,Arjun (MSUM) def. DUMITRASCU,Dan (NSUM) 6-3, 6-1
4. LABIK,Ondrej (MSUM) def. FERNANDEZ,Flavian (NSUM) 6-3, 7-6
5. RAWAL,Nihit (MSUM) def. CARRIZO, Agustin (NSUM) 6-3, 6-2
6. GUEVEL, Ignacio (NSUM) def. SATHYANARAYANAN,S. (MSUM) 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish
Doubles: 3,2,1
Singles: 5,3,1,4,2,6