Custom Search PETERSBURG, Va. – The Shaw University women’s tennis team claimed their third CIAA title in four years with a 5-3 win over Chowan in a match played Saturday morning at the Virginia State tennis complex.
Shaw, the number one seed in the tournament, improves to 23-2 on the season while Chowan, the second seed, falls to 18-14.
Chowan broke on top early when their number three doubles tandem of Breanne Johnson and Brittney Moser downed Shaw’s Desiree Bell and Menel Ben-Cheikh 8-0. Soon thereafter, Shaw tied the score when Gislaine Farias an Claudia Silva swept their match over Straffai Cleveland and Jessica DeBackre 8-0 at number two singles.
Shaw claimed the final doubles point at number one singles when Michelle Hart and Jessica Medina downed Natalya Kamenshchikova and Holly Egnor 8-1.
Farias extended the Shaw lead to 3-1 with her 6-1, 6-0 win over DeBrackre in the number four singles slot.
Chowan broke back and tied the contest at three-all when Cleveland downed Bell 6-2, 6-0 at number five singles and Humphrey downed Ben-Cheikh 6-2, 6-1 at six.
Hart gave the Lady Bears the lead for good when she downed Egnor 6-0, 6-1 at number one to give the Lady Bears a 4-3 lead.
Medina gave the Lady Bears their third championship in four years with her 6-2, 6-3 win over Johnson to give Shaw their fifth point in the best-of-nine match.
Shaw earns the CIAA’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament, which begins on April 27. They await word on who they will face and where they will play. The NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament Selection Show will be aired at www.ncaa.com on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.