Heritage High graduate sparks Winston-Salem State to CIAA tennis tournament championship

Creighton Jones
(Courtesy: WSSU Rams Athletics)

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia  --  Creighton Jones of Newport News played an instrumental role this spring in perhaps the finest tennis season in Winston-Salem State University history.

As a junior, Jones played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles throughout the season, and the Rams captured the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament championship. They went 13-9 overall, gaining a berth in the NCAA Division II tournament by virtue of their CIAA crown.

In singles, Jones was 6-6 in dual matches, including 5-2 in the CIAA. Except for one loss at No. 3, all of those matches were on line 2. In doubles, Jones was 10-8, all on line 1, and 7-1 in the CIAA. In all but one doubles match, he played alongside Jonathan Aubrey. WSSU responded well to a six-match losing streak, which included a pair of 6-3 losses to conference rival Shaw. Immediately following the second 6-3 defeat, the Rams won eight consecutive matches.

The most memorable of those were the last two. In a CIAA semifinal, Winston-Salem State posted a 5-2 victory over Shaw, which had won the previous nine conference tournaments.

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