2016 MEAC Tennis Championships Website
2016 MEAC Women's Tennis Championship Bracket
 
DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University enters the 2016 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Women's Tennis Championships as the fourth seed from the Southern Division and will battle the Northern Division's top-seed in Norfolk State University in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
 
The MEAC Tennis Championships are being held from April 21-23 at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
 
The NCCU/Norfolk State winner will play the winner of the Florida A&M University (S2) against Morgan State University (N3) winner in the semifinals on Friday at 9 a.m. The other half of the bracket features Bethune-Cookman University (S1) versus Delaware State University (N4) and Howard University (N2) versus South Carolina State University (S3). The championship match will be contested on Saturday at 9 a.m.
 
"When you get into tournament tennis it really is a whole different ball of wax," said NCCU first year head coach Tom Schrecengost. "The intensity level is higher and you have to have a mindset of taking it one match at a time, preparing for the team ahead of you."
 
NCCU (5-12 Overall) is coming off a dramatic 4-3 win at Norfolk State (9-11), in which the Lady Eagles won four of six singles matches in straight sets to rally for the victory after dropping all three doubles matches by narrow 7-5 scores.
 
"It is a unique situation playing Norfolk State four days ago and coming out on the winning end in a very close match," said Schrecengost. "We know we have our hands full again. On one hand, we should have confidence because we did beat them a few days ago, but on the other hand, we know the type of competitors they will be and we expect them to come out with their hair on fire so to speak and ready to try and get revenge."
 
NCCU was 2-3 in the southern division, but did score at least two team points in all three losses. The Lady Eagles went a perfect 3-0 in non-conference matches against members of the northern division.
 
Schrecengost added, "The Southern Division is a very challenging division. Even the teams we beat for our two wins to make the tournament were not easy and the three matches we unfortunately did not win were also very competitive. We are excited to be in the tournament and give ourselves a chance."
 
The Lady Eagles have qualified for the league tournament for five consecutive seasons since joining the MEAC in 2011-12. NCCU has a 3-4 record in the event, advancing to semifinals three of four times (2012, 2013 and 2015).
 
Seniors will be leading the Lady Eagles into postseason play with Aissa Muamba and Mia Ramic playing in the top two positions in the lineup. They were both named All-MEAC performers earlier in the week with Muamba (10-5) earning First Team distinction, her fourth All-MEAC award, and Ramic (7-9), who was a perfect 5-0 in conference play, capturing Second Team laurels for the first time.
 
Juniors Lynsey Cover and Tamara Jeremic along with sophomore Jamie Rogers and freshman Jasmine Gabriel will round out NCCU's lineup. Rogers (10-6) matches Muamba with 10 wins and is followed by Gabriel, who has five wins in her rookie season. Cover has won her last two singles matches and Jeremic carded a .500 record in MEAC matches at 2-2.
 
Schrecengost concluded, "A lot of things were clicking for a number of our ladies in our last two matches and we were getting contributions from pretty much everybody. If you are going to be successful as a team and get the win you want, you really do need to get contributions from everyone. I think there is a sense of confidence winning our last two matches going into the tournament. Ultimately it is going to come down to who plays the best tennis. You can be as excited and emotional as you want to be, but the bottom line is the ladies that go out and perform the best are going to win and hopefully that will be us."