Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletic Communications
BALTIMORE, Md. – Freshman Ivan Ivars won in a third-set tiebreaker to give the Norfolk State men's tennis team both a 4-3 win over Morgan State on Sunday and this year's MEAC Northern Division title.
Ivars rallied after dropping the first set at the Morgan State Tennis Courts, winning the second and third sets in the last singles match of the day. His victory clinched the overall match for the Spartans, who closed out the weekend with three wins in three days on the road over Northern Division opponents.
By virtue of going 3-0 this year in the division, including wins over Howard and Coppin State, the Spartans won their first regular season title – just the second ever – in the league since sharing the Southern Division crown in 2013.
"This was a highly competitive match on both ends. Credit Morgan State for pushing us and making us work for this win," head coach Larry Holmes said. "Ivan stepped up in a huge way for us to seal the match. Being down 5-2 in the third set, he played with a lot of heart, passion and grit."
The Spartans won the doubles point, but Morgan State (1-1, 0-1 MEAC) rallied to win three of the six singles matches. At No. 5 singles, Ivars faced off against MSU's Sebastian Lopez. After dropping the first set 6-3, Ivars came back to win 6-3 in the second set. The third set then went into an eventually tiebreaker, and the Spartan freshman came out on top, 7-2, to win the third set 7-6 and set off a victory celebration.
NSU (6-3 overall) also won at the top two spots in the lineup. Junior Federico Rebecchini earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory at the top spot over Serhii Kharchev, while senior Andres Alcaraz topped Cem Erturk 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 2 position.
Both upperclassmen were also instrumental in doubles. Rebecchini and senior Ignacio Guevel won 6-4 over Erturk and Oguzhan Ceylan at the No. 1 position, and Alcaraz and freshman Santiago Rendon won 6-4 over Kharchev and Martial Kawunde at the second position.
Morgan State prevented a doubles sweep when the duo of Lopez and Nihit Rawal won 6-2 at the third slot over Ivars and sophomore Ibrahim Abbas.
Rendon almost made Ivars' match moot, as he rallied from a 6-3 first-set hole to win the second set over Rawal at No. 3 singles, 6-3. Rendon came up just short in the third set, 7-5.
The Bears also won at No. 4 singles, where Ceylan topped Guevel 7-5, 6-3, and at the No. 6 position when Rhajzon Rankins won 6-4, 6-2 over Abbas.
"I am so happy for the players and our program to be Northern Division champs," Holmes said. "They deserve it. This is a special group of young men we have here. These were the first two goals, to beat Morgan State and win the Northern Division. Now we have to continue to get better."
The Spartans have clinched the Northern Division's No. 1 seed in the MEAC Tennis Championships, to be held later this month at Old Dominion. Only the top two teams from each division will advance to this year's tournament.