BOX SCOREDURHAM, N.C. – Sophomore
William East fought back in winning a dramatic three-set match as North Carolina Central University men's tennis team rallied to tie its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference showdown at 3-3 but Norfolk State University was able to clinch the match winning the final singles tilt in three sets at the Elmira Tennis Courts Tuesday afternoon.
Freshman Fatehdeep Singh held on to defeat junior
Thomas Persico by a score of 6-4, 7-5 (5), 6-1 to secure the team victory for the Spartans in the fifth position in the lineup.
Norfolk State improved to 3-12 overall while NCCU slipped to 5-7. Both squads are 1-3 in the MEAC Southern Division. All three of the Eagles league losses have been by the slimmest of margins (4-3).
Trailing 3-0, NCCU started its rally with straight-set singles wins by seniors
Tamina Kienka and
Daniil Gerasimov. Kienka (6-0, 6-0) did not lose a game in route to his first singles win of the season while Gerasimov (6-2, 6-2) won his 10th consecutive singles match.
East knotted the score at three apiece winning a pair of 7-5 tiebreakers in the first and third sets. East, who has won seven straight singles matches, was cramping up and trailing 4-1 in the third set before completing the comeback win by a score of 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (5).
The Spartans won the first and third doubles match by identical 8-2 scores to earn the first team point and then got straight set triumphs at first and fourth singles to build up its 3-0 lead.
NCCU will complete the conference portion of its regular season schedule against MEAC Southern Division archrival North Carolina A&T University on Friday at 1 p.m.
