ASU Braves win 2012 SWAC Championship in Men's Tennis

LORMAN, Mississippi  -- Alcorn State claimed their second straight title in Men's Tennis with a win over Prairie View. The Braves blanked the Panthers, 4-0 in tournament action. Alcorn State captured the doubles point first and dominated the singles competition to run away with the SWAC Title.

Vitali Vasileuski/Garry Amor defeated Trenton Johnson/Juan Pablo Robles while Alexandr Lidzar/Max Tkachenko overpowered David Aldaz/Jonathan Dingle to get the BravesAS off to a good start by picking up the doubles point.

In singles action, the Braves Ernesto Santillan, Winfried Weinbeer and Garry Amor were victorious over Prairie View's Ronald Chidzikwe, Kristen Powell and David Aldaz respectively.

The Braves have won a total of eight SWAC Men's Championships.

Head Coach, Anthony Dodgen was named 2012 SWAC Men's Coach of the Year while Garry Amor received Tournament MVP Honors. Ernesto Santillan and Winfried Weinbeer were named to the All-Tournament Team. Earlier in the week, Alcorn State swept first team honors in the category of doubles in the SWAC. Weinbeer, Lidzar, Amor and Tkachenko earned SWAC All-Conference first team honors in singles.

As a result of the SWAC Title, Alcorn State will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament during the month of May.

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Southern Jaguars host UNO, look to extend win streak to 11

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Riding the wave of a 10-game win streak, Southern will host UNO at Lee Hines Field Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

Southern (25-14) is coming off a three-game sweep of Prairie View A&M and are 12-1 in April after struggling mightily in March with a 9-10 mark. The Jaguars scored 24 runs during the weekend series including a 12-2 thrashing in seven innings.

Daniel Garcia (3-1, 4.46) will get the start in Tuesday's game and has earned victories in his last three mid-week starts. Garcia, who is 3-1 this season, defeated UL 3-2 with a masterful pitching effort, lasting 8.1 innings.

In the Jaguars 9-4 win over UNO last Wednesday, Garcia allowed four runs in six innings before freshman Pedro Fargas entered to pitch three innings of perfect baseball, adding four strikeouts.

At the plate, no one has been hotter the right-fielder Stephen Wallace. Wallace, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a solo homerun in the 5-point win over the Privateers, is batting a team-leading .359 with six homeruns, also a team high. Wallace accounted for six RBIs in the last week's game against UNO.

Southern continues its meteoric rise towards next month's SWAC Tournament at Lee Hines Field when the Jaguars embark upon a home-and-home tilt with rival Jackson State. Southern will travel to Jackson, Mississippi to face the Tigers on Saturday before returning to friendlier confines on Sunday in Baton Rouge, La.

First pitch for Sunday's matinee is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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VSU Lady Trojans Win First Ever CIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship

PETERSBURG, Virginia -- Virginia State University’s women’s outdoor track and field team won their first ever CIAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday, April 21st with 139.50 total points.

The women's meet turned into a two-team duel between Virginia State and Johnson C. Smith, which started the day with the lead. Virginia State, in fourth place entering Saturday, surged into contention early, and the lead flip-flopped between Johnson C. Smith and Virginia State. The Lady Trojans started their rally in the 800-meter run, where Sierra Clayton led a 1-2 VSU finish. The 1,500-meter run was a VSU sweep of the top three places with Taylor-Ashley Bean winning the event. After two runners scored in the 200-meter dash, the Lady Trojans had reclaimed the lead 134.5-123 with one event left. It was a team effort for the Lady Trojans, who won six individual events. Samantha Edwards of the Lady Trojans won the 400-meter dash. She is ranked fourth in Division II in the event.

Samantha Edwards (senior/ Elmont, NY) won the women’s 400m dash in 52.15 seconds and then placed third in the women’s 200m dash with a time of 24.54 seconds. Jovonne Tyson King (junior/ Pontiac/ MI) added three points by placing sixth in the women’s 100m dash event.

In the women’s 800 m run, VSU added 20 points with three runners advancing to the finals. Sierra Clayton (senior/ Chesapeake, VA) won the event, while Taylor Ashley Bean (freshman/ Sandys, Bermuda) placed second (2:14.55) and Jourdan Johnson (junior/ Winston-Salem State) finished seventh (2:20.94).

The Lady Trojans displayed great effort by having three runners finish in the top-3 in the women’s 1500m event. Taylor Ashley Bean won the women’s 1500m run with a time of 4:54.06. Sierra Clayton followed with a solid 4:58.46 placing second and Jourdan Johnson helped the Lady Trojans sweep the event with a third place finish with a time of 5:03.85. In the women’s 1500m run, VSU accumulated 24 team points.

Four Lady Trojans added 23 points in the women’s 3000m run. Taylor-Ashley Bean won the event (10:58.30), Sierra Clayton followed by placing second (11:37.88), Jenna Arnold (senior/ Philadelphia, PA) finished in fifth place, and Shayla Szabo (senior/ Newport News, VA) finished in eighth place (11:57.48).

Two Lady Trojans collected points in the women’s hurdles events at the 2012 CIAA Outdoor Championships. Shaundra Cook (junior/ Franklin, VA) added four points in the women’s 100m hurdles (14.98) with a fifth place finish, while Alicia Terry (freshman/ Roanoke, VA) also added four points in the women’s 400m hurdles (1:01.71).

In the women’s relay events, VSU placed third in the women’s 4x100m relay (47.11) and then finished fourth in the women’s 4x400m relay (3:52.76). Anjelica Harris (senior/ Suffolk, VA), Samantha Edwards, Alicia Terry, and Jovonne Tyson King placed third behind winner St. Augustine’s and runner-up Johnson C. Smith in the women’s 4x100m relay. In the women’s 4x400m relay, Jovonne Tyson King, Sierra Clayton, Shannon Lewis (sophomore/ Yorktown, VA) , and Taylor-Ashley Bean finished in fourth place.

Both Sierra Clayton and Shaundra Cook placed fourth and fifth respectively, in the women’s high jump event. Clayton added four points by rising 1.60m and Cook scored two points with a mark of 1.55m. In the women’s long jump, Cook placed ninth (5.11m) and in the women’s triple jump she placed tied for sixth (11.35m). Alicia Terry also competed in the women’s triple jump following Cook by placing eighth (11.09m).

The Lady Trojans added 17 points in the women’s discus throw with Chelsey Fuller (freshman/ Norfolk, VA) placing second (36.63m), Millicent Barber (sophomore/ Virginia Beach, VA) placing fourth (36.10m), and Ashley Heedley (sophomore/ Oakland, CA) placing fifth (34.33m). Shaundra Cook placed eighth in the women’s javelin throw adding one point (26.97m), while Millicent Barber placed eighth in the women’s shot put event (10.78m).

FINAL STATS

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Shaw Lady Bears Tennis Takes CIAA Championship

ETTRICK, Virginia -- One year ago, Shaw number one singles player Lolia Kienka watched as Winston-Salem State celebrated their 2011 women's tennis championship,  Angry, she declared, "We will win it next year."

 

This year, Kienka and her teammates proved her right as they captured their third CIAA Women's Tennis Championship in four years by defeating defending champion Winston-Salem State 5-0 in a match played on the campus of Virginia State.

 

In doubles action, number one doubles Lolia Kienka and Jessica Medina downed Kalin Jarvis and Bianka Locklear 8-3.  The number two doubles team of Vimbai Mawisire and Aline Ferreira topped Sloane Holmes and Kayla Carter.  Claudia Silva and Gislaine Farias gave Shaw a clean sweep of the doubles with their 8-0 win over Chelsea Chatman and Taylor Harris.

 

With the sweep of doubles, Shaw needed to capture two singles contests to win the best-of-nine match.  Number five single Ferreira defeated Lindsay 6-2, 6-0 and Gislaine Farias -in the number six slot - clinched the match with her 6-1, 6-1 win over Chatman.

 

Now the Lady Bears wait for the NCAA Tennis Selection Show, which will air Tuesday, April 24 at 8:30 p.m. on  ncaa.com.  At that time, they will learn when and where they will compete.

BOX SCORE

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Claflin captures first SIAC East Division baseball title

COLUMBIA, South Carolina - The script could not have been written any better. For the second consecutive year the SIAC East Division Title would be decided on the last weekend of the regular season, as rivals Benedict College (20-14) and Claflin University (22-16) squared off. Last season the games took place in Orangeburg, SC at Historic Mirmow Field, with Benedict taking the East regular season crown.

This year the battle took place at new Tiger Field on the Benedict College campus. Needing two wins over the Tigers the Panthers would win the Division outright. Claflin knew this was their opportunity to capture their first SIAC East Division Title since becoming a member of the NCAA II in 2008.

The Panthers took advantage and left nothing to chance by sweeping the Tigers in the Saturday afternoon doubleheader 4-3, and 11-8.

Coach James Randall said, “This is the reward for hard work and dedication. It feels great to win our first division title, here at Claflin University. I am extremely proud of the players on this team who set the goals and sacrificed their personal time and efforts to get to this point. It was difficult to watch Benedict celebrate winning the division on our field last year, and I know we had that vision in the back of our minds since then. I can't say enough about our seniors who kept us focused helped each player to believe in each other, I think that helped us to be as successful as we were. We will now come out and continue to play fundamental baseball as we head into next weeks SIAC Championships with momentum.”

The Panthers will travel to Ozark, Alabama as the #1 seed in the east for the SIAC Baseball Championships beginning Thursday. Brackets and parings for the championships will be released at a later date.

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Shaw Men's Tennis Takes Eighth Straight CIAA Championship

ETTRICK, Virginia -- The Shaw men's tennis team claimed it eighth straight CIAA Championship with a 5-0 win over Winston-Salem State in a match played on the tennis courts of Virginia State.

Both the number one and number three doubles teams won their matches 8-1. In the one slot, Charles Silva and Juan Sanchez downed Chris Jeter and Creighton Jones, while number three doubles Artur Latypov and Andre Monti topped Drew Dunzweiler and Calvin Brooks.

In number two doubles, Daniel Vasquez and Gabriel Nicotra defeated Leandro Imaz and Nick John 8-4.

With the sweep in the doubles, Shaw needed victory in only two of the singles matches to win the best-of-nine contest.

Sanchez, in the number five slot, recorded a 6-0, 6-0 win over Dunzweiler, while Monti cemented the victory with a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of Brooks.

Latypov, the number one singles player, was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Now the Bears wait for the NCAA Tennis Selection Show, which will air Tuesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. on ncaa.com.   At that time, they will learn when and where they will compete.

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SU Women's Tennis claims third straight SWAC title

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana - Southern women's tennis claimed its third straight SWAC Championship with a convincing 4-0 win over Alcorn State at City Park in Alexandria Sunday.

With the win, Southern earned the conference's automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament May 17-28.

Senior No. 1 Carlista Mohammed was named the tournament's most valuable player after finishing undefeated in singles and in doubles play in the Jaguars' wins over the Braves and Prairie View A&M.

2011/12 SWAC WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONS
SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY JAGUARS

ROSTER

Name	Ht.	Yr.	Hometown (Prev School)
Lisbeth Cuevas Castaneda	5-6	So.	Bogota, Columbia
Camara Davis	5-5	Fr.	Arlington, Texas
Lois Alexis	5-9	Jr.	Grenada
Carlista Mohammed	5-6	Sr.	Trinidad & Tobago
Gabrielle Moore	5-8	Fr.	Chicago, Ill.
Morgan Taylor	5-9	Fr.	Southfield, Mich.
Demetria Woods	5-7	Jr.	Pearl City, HI

COACHES

CLICK EACH NAME FOR PHOTO AND BIO

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Southern head coach Jeff Conyers was named the 2012 SWAC Coach of the Year. Sunday's win marks the sixth SWAC Championship for Southern under head tennis coach Jeff Conyers. Conyers, who is also a member of the NCAA Division Men's and Women's Tennis Committee, led the Lady Jaguars to it third straight HBCU Tennis national title this past fall.

After Mohammed and freshman Gabrielle Moore claimed a 8-3 win over Kersten Vanem and Victoria Kozachuk, the Lady Jaguars clinched the doubles point when freshmen Camara Davis and Morgan Taylor defeated Daria Rudd and Chan Rutherford 8-6.

No 4. Lois Alexis extended the Lady Jaguars 1-0 lead, making quick work of Merilin Tipp in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. Mohammed finished off Alcorn State No. 1 Vanem 6-2, 6-2 before Moore, a Chicago native clinched the championship defeating Kozachuk 7-5, 6-0.

Joining Mohammed on the All-Tournament team are teammates Lois Alexis and Gabrielle Moore. Keti MeBuke from Alcorn State, Monica Arcos from Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Brittany Harrell from Prairie View round out the 2012 All-Tournament team.

Boxscore

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