NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State men's tennis began the 2018 MEAC Northern Division season in winning fashion with a 6-1 result over Howard on Saturday at the NSU Tennis Complex.
 
Prior to the match, the Spartans (4-6, 1-0 MEAC) honored a pair of seniors in Dan Dumitrascu and Flavian Fernandez.
 
NSU quickly claimed the doubles point after a pair of 6-2 wins. On the second court, Vini Da Silva and Ignacio Guevel defeated Cole Gittens and Sagar Raju. Andres Alcaraz and Dumitrascu followed suit against Kyle Martin and DeVaughn Blackburn in the third-seeded flight.
 
The No. 1 doubles match went unfinished with Fernandez and Agustin Carrizo trailing Roger Lyn and Karim Shokeir, 5-4.
 
The Spartans opened singles play with two-straight wins to move to the precipice of victory.
 
Carrizo got things going with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 result over Shokeir on the third court. Alcaraz then picked up his team-leading sixth singles victory – downing Gittens by a 6-2, 6-4 margin in the No. 2 match.
 
The Bison (1-10, 1-1 MEAC) grabbed their lone point of the match at No. 1 singles. There, Lyn downed Da Silva – 7-6, 6-1.
 
Fernandez, one of NSU's two elder statesmen, clinched the senior day victory on the fourth court with a 6-2, 6-2 sweep of Martin. The other Spartan senior, Dumitrascu, followed with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Blackburn in the fifth-seeded flight.
 
Guevel capped the victory on the sixth court, where he emerged victorious over Raju – 6-3, 6-2.
 
NSU concludes conference action with a two-match swing through Charm City next weekend. The Spartans face Coppin State on April 6 at 2 p.m. before squaring off with preseason favorite Morgan State the next day at 2 p.m. as well.