Championship Central | Final Bracket | Box Score
NORFOLK, Va., April 27, 2019—Morgan State made history on Saturday at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center, defeating perennial power South Carolina State 4-2 to win the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men’s tennis championship.
It marked the Bears’ first-ever MEAC title in men’s tennis.
Morgan State earned the MEAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, the field for which will be unveiled on NCAA.com on Monday at 6 p.m. EST.
The Bears made short work of the doubles portion to open things up, as Oguzhan Ceylan and Nihit Rawal defeated Gerardo Bontifacio and Selim Ben Ali 6-3 – before Serhii Kharchev and Arjun Ramakrishnan outlasted Aleska Daskalovic and Adam Kalicoda at No. 2 doubles, 7-6 (7-1).
With Morgan State up 1-0, Rawal shined at No. 3 singles, defeating Marcelo Rodriguez 6-3, 6-4 to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Daskalovic followed at No. 2 singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kharchev to give the Bulldogs their first point of the match.
Bontifacio then tied things with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Sebastian Lopez at No. 5 singles, before Ramakrishnan put the Bears back on top with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Juan Ramirez at the No. 1 singles slot.
That left the Nos. 4 and 6 singles matches remaining, both of which were in the third set. Shrey Gupta at No. 6 finished first, defeating Ben Ali 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 to give the Bears their historic title.
Rawal was named the tournament’s Outstanding Performer. Matthew Townes was named Outstanding Coach.
2019 MEAC Men’s Tennis All-Tournament Team
Singles
1: Victor Bravo, Bethune-Cookman
2: Aleska Daskalovic, South Carolina State
3: Nihit Rawal, Morgan State
4: Oguzhan Ceylan, Morgan State
5: Gerardo Bontifacio, South Carolina State
6: Shrey Gupta, Morgan State
Doubles
1: Juan Ramirez/Marcelo Rodriguez, South Carolina State
2: Serhii Kharchev/Arjun Ramakrishnan, Morgan State
3: Oguzhan Ceylan/Nihit Rawal, Morgan State
Outstanding Performer: Nihit Rawal, Morgan State
Outstanding Coach: Matthew Townes, Morgan State