NORFOLK, Va. - Freshman Flavian Fernandez rallied from a deficit in the third set of the last match of the afternoon to give the Norfolk State men's tennis team a 4-3 win over rival Hampton on Tuesday at the NSU Tennis Complex.

The Pirates pulled off a rally of their own to win the doubles point before NSU won the first two singles matches to tie the contest up at 2-2. Hampton won its only contested singles match before the Spartans earned their third victory to tie the score at 3-3. Fernandez then pulled off the late comeback for the win.

Facing Miguel Suarez at No. 5 singles, Fernandez fell in the first set 6-3 before winning the second set, 6-1. Then in the third, Fernandez was up 3-2 before Suarez won the next two games. Facing the possibility of falling behind 5-3, Fernandez instead tied the set at 4-4 after rallying from down 40-love.

Suarez went ahead 5-4 before Fernandez broke serve and took the last three games for a 7-5 victory.

The victory moved NSU to 2-0 in the MEAC Northern Division and 4-12 overall. Hampton dropped to 3-8 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

The Pirates had the early lead in the match thanks to winning the doubles point. NSU's short-handed lineup forced a default loss at the third doubles position, while Fernandez and freshman Benedikt Henning topped Matt Foster-Estwick and Joshua McQueen by a 6-3 score at the first slot.

But at the second spot, Suarez and Charles Hudson pulled off a late rally of their own to win 7-5 and give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.

NSU default at No. 6 singles, while Henning earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Foster-Estwick at the top spot in the lineup. Pejic earned a 6-3, 6-3 win over Odegbami at the third position to tie the match at 2-2 before Hudson topped Singh at No. 4 singles, 6-3 and 6-4.

Freshman Dan Dumitrascu won the first set tiebreaker, 7-2, to win the first set by a 7-6 score over Shirin at No. 2 singles. Dumitrascu won the second set, 6-2, to again tie the contest at 3-3 before Fernandez won the final singles match with the pressure on.

NSU will play at Howard on Friday at 1 p.m. in another MEAC test for the Spartans.

For more information visit www.nsuspartans.com or www.hamptonpirates.com