Friday, April 18, 2014

VSU Trojans, WSSU Rams Advance to Semifinals of 2014 CIAA Men’s Tennis Championship Tournament

ETTRICK, Virginia – The Virginia State Trojans and the Winston-Salem State Rams kicked off the 2014 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Men’s Tennis Championship Tournament in style when the two teams took 5-0 wins in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. With the victories, both teams will advance to the semifinal round of the tournament where they will take on the conference regular season co-champions Shaw and Chowan respectively.

The host Trojans opened the tournament with an impressive 5-0 win over their rival Virginia Union Panthers to open the tournament. The Trojans got things started with gutsy performance in doubles play. The team kicked things off in the #2 doubles when Nicholas Pfab and Evan Dirksen took an 8-1 win which was followed by an 8-6 win by Kwamane Tonkins and Delwin McCurdy at the #3 doubles. The highlight of the match came at the #1 doubles when Matthew and Nicholas Brown took a 9-8 (7-4) win at #1 doubles. From there, the Trojans wrapped up the match when Tonkins took a 6-0, 6-0 win at #5 singles while Pfab took a 6-1, 6-0 win at #3 singles.

The Rams played the nightcap match when the team took a 5-0 win over the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls. The match got off to an exciting start when the Rams took an 8-1 win at #1 singles behind Creighton Jones and Jonathan Aubrey’s strong play. The Rams kept things going when the tandem of Christopher Jeter and Christopher Shew took an 8-4 win at #3 doubles. Joshua Aubrey and Corey Bonnette rounded out doubles play with an 8-5 victory. In singles play, the Rams fininshed the match with Bonnette taking a 6-0, 6-0 win at #4 singles while Shew ended the match with a 6-0, 6-0 win at #6 singles.

Both teams will return to action tomorrow in the semifinal round of the tournament. The Trojans will take on the Shaw Bears while the Rams will take on the Chowan Hawks in a rematch of last season’s conference championship match. Tournament play will resume at 1:00 p.m. at the VSU Tennis Complex on the campus of Virginia State University.

COURTESY THECIAA.COM

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