NORFOLK, Va. – No. 1-seeded Florida A&M knocked fourth-seeded Norfolk State women's tennis out of the 2018 MEAC Tournament with a 4-1 decision on Thursday morning at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center in Norfolk, Virginia.
 
The loss ends the Spartans' (4-10) season, while the Lady Rattlers (5-13) advance to the semifinals on Friday at 9 a.m.
 
FAMU won the doubles point, but NSU did not go down quietly. The Lady Rattlers opened the match with a 6-0 win by the pairing of Rachel Harden and Sophia Osabouhien, but the next two matches went down to the wire.
 
Dajana Cvjetkovic and Paula Fortuno rallied from an early deficit to draw even with Mia Rakotondrazafy and Karen Machisa, 5-5 on the first court. At the same time, the second-seeded pairing of Ana Popovic and Bruna Goncalves was also in the midst of a 5-5 match with Haleigh Porter and Aylen Hubeaut.
 
Cvjetkovic and Fortuno won the next game to go up 6-5, but Popovic and Goncalves lost their next two games, falling to Porter and Hubeaut 7-5, to give the doubles point to FAMU.
 
In singles play, the Lady Rattlers quickly went up 3-0 with a pair of 6-0, 6-0 victories by Harden and Osabouhien on the fifth and sixth courts, respectively.
 
Fortuno secured NSU's lone point of the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Machisa at No. 2 singles. Shortly thereafter, Hubeaut clinched the match for FAMU with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Goncalves in the fourth-seeded flight.
 
Cvjetkovic and Popovic were both down a set in their unfinished matches. Cvjetkovic dropped the first set 6-3 and was up 3-2 on the first court, and Popovic trailed 7-5, 0-1.
 
The 2018 MEAC Tournament continues Friday at 9 a.m. The women's championship match is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday.