Men's Tennis MEAC Media Relations

MEAC Completes Day One of 2008 Tennis Championships

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) completed day one of the 2008 MEAC Tennis Championships, today at the Millbrook Tennis Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Hampton Lady Pirates, who earned the top seed in the northern division, topped No. 4 Bethune-Cookman 4-0. The Lady Pirates swept doubles action 8-1, 8-2 and 8-0. In singles play, they won all five points in straight sets.

The No. 3 southern divisional seed, Florida A&M Lady Rattlers defeated Howard, the second seed in the northern division, 4-1. The Lady Rattlers won the doubles point and won three individual games. Laura Marin won the lone point for Howard with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Lenice Boyd.

South Carolina State will face Florida A&M in tomorrow’s semifinal game at 8:30 a.m. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Morgan State 4-0 to advance. Norfolk State topped Delaware State 4-1 and will face Hampton in the second semifinal game beginning tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.

On the men’s side, Norfolk State, the fourth seed in the south, upset top seed Hampton 4-3. The Spartans went up 1-0 with a doubles point victory. The two teams battled back and forth in singles play with each team swapping points. Tied at 3-3, Bogdan Yordanov guided his team to tomorrow’s semifinal action with a win at the number five singles position. Yordanov, who lost the first set 2-6 came back and defeated Hampton’s Gellert Varga 6-2, 6-4.

Bethune-Cookman defeated Morgan State, 4-2, in the other men’s morning action. The Wildcats lost the doubles point but followed up with singles wins at the number three through six spots. Juan Ortiz topped Cristian Cruz 6-1, 6-4 to win the only singles point for the Bears.

Florida A&M, the top seed in the southern division, shut-out Howard 4-0 to advance to the semifinals. The Rattlers won the doubles points and swept the number four, five and six singles positions for the win.

South Carolina State won the last men’s game of the day. The Bulldogs posted a 4-0 mark against Delaware State to advance to tomorrow’s semifinal match against Norfolk State. The two teams will begin play at noon.

Tennis action continues on Saturday, April 19 with semifinal play beginning at 8:30 a.m. for the women and noon for the men. The 2008 MEAC Tennis Championships will conclude on Sunday, April 20 beginning at 9 a.m. with the women's championship final. The men's championship finale will follow at 11:30 a.m.