Sunday, April 20, 2014

Shaw Bears Claim CIAA Championship With 5-1 Win Over Chowan

COURTESY: SHAW ATHLETICS
PETERSBURG, Virginia --  Shaw University reclaimed their spot atop the CIAA Men's Tennis Championship with a 5-1 win over Chowan Saturday afternoon at the Virginia State University Tennis Complex.  The championship is the ninth in ten years for the Bears.
With the win, the Bears improve to 14-5 overall and qualify for the NCAA regional tennis tournament.  The Hawks fall to 17-9, but could still qualify for the NCAA tournament. 
Shaw's Charles Silva and Sergio Cuartes recorded the first win of the match with an 8-4 win over Danilo Galovic and Pedro Aiala at number one doubles, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead.
At number two doubles, Chowan's Ivan Doubograev and Farid Hajizada evened up the score with an 8-3 win over Andre Monti and Gafur Sirojiddinov.
In a hotly contested match at number three doubles, Bach Tran and Juan Sanchez of Shaw downed Tristan Martin and Sasha Kirsanov 9-8 - 7-3 in the tiebreaker, giving Shaw a 2-1 lead going into the singles matches.
Sanchez brought in a point for Shaw at number four singles as he downed Martin 6-0, 6-0 to give the Bears a 3-1 lead.
The win for the Bears came as Sergio Cuartes at number two singles and Bach Tran at number three recorded near simultaneous victories.  Cuartes defeated Aiala 6-1, 6-2, and Tran downed Kirsonov 6-2, 6-2.
Both teams now await the NCAA Division II Tennis Selection Show to determine where they might be heading in tournament play.  The show will air on ncaa.com at 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 29.
Box Score
 
COURTESY SHAW UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF SPORTS INFORMATION

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