GREENSBORO (March 28, 2017) – A lot of things fell in the North Carolina A&T's favor following their 5-2 win over North Carolina Central Tuesday afternoon in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's tennis play at Barber Park.
The Aggies (5-10, 2-1 MEAC) win total is now the most it has been in eight years. N.C. A&T all but secured a spot in the 2017 MEAC Men's and Women's Tennis Championship Tournament in Norfolk, Va., April 20-22 while getting a little revenge in the process. For the second straight season, they could have a tennis play finish better than .500 after Khalia Powell went 7-6 in 2016. In fact, they may even have two players finish better than .500.
Junior Khalia Powell gave several contributing factors to the Aggies' improvement including more players on the roster, team bonding, better strength and conditioning and more coaches.
“We have two coaches now. That makes a difference,” said Powell, referring to first-year head coach William Crutchfield and his assistant Shawn Hendrix. “We never give up and we're believing in coach Crutchfield and what he is teaching us.”
That never give up spirit was on display Tuesday. The Aggies went into singles competition already a point down after the NCCU won the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Unknown to Powell, however, was that while she was playing her singles match against Jamie Rogers, her teammates were dominating on the other side of the Barber Park indoor courts.
Junior Nadia Hilton-Adams and freshmen Klara Smolikova and Kanishka Chawla all won in convincing manner at No.4, 5 and 6 singles on the other side of the curtain dividing the tennis courts. Within Powell's eye sight she saw teammate Shelya Ramirez lose a frustrating match against Jasmine Gabriel and sophomore Angelica Martinez was in a heated contest with Lynsey Cover. Meanwhile, Powell had already dropped her first set to Rogers.
But she squeezed how a tough 6-4 second set win before leaving no doubt in the third set with an inspiring third set, 6-1, win where she was running down returns and forcing Rogers into attempting tough shots at the net.
“I didn't do so well in the first. I was making too many errors with balls going out of bounds and my serve wasn't very good,” Powell said. “I started focusing on putting the ball in play well, grinding and going after every ball. I just tried to stay engaged in the match because I knew I had to be steady for my team.”
The additional players Powell referred to have been a tremendous benefit. Smolikova improved to 7-6 overall and 3-0 in the MEAC, while Chawla is 6-6 overall and 2-1 in the MEAC. Martinez's 7-6, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles improved her to 3-0 in the MEAC, while bringing her overall record to 6-8. Martinez said there is not necessarily more confidence the Aggies can beat their opponents as much as there is confidence in how each individual player has gotten better.
“You never know what teams have and don't have when you go into a match, so we just have to have confidence in us,” said Martinez. “We can't be confident because we won a few matches. If we're going to be confident going forward, we have to be confident in knowing we're getting better in practice and the fact that we're working hard to win.”
Tuesday's win avenged a 5-2 loss to the Eagles last season that cost the Aggies a berth into the MEAC tournament. Powell and Martinez said they are eager to play in the MEAC tournament to see how their improvement translates to tournament play. Before they get there, however, they still have four remaining matches including conference contests against Bethune-Cookman (April 7) and Florida A&M (April 8) at the Aggie Tennis Complex. They face East Carolina 4 p.m., Saturday, April 1 at the Aggie Tennis Complex.
Tennis Match Results
N.C. Central vs North Carolina A&T
Mar 28, 2017 at Greensboro, N.C.
North Carolina A&T 5, N.C. Central 2
Singles competition:
1. POWELL,Khalia (NCATW) def. ROGERS,Jamie (NCCU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
2. GABRIEL,Jasmine (NCCU) def. RAMIREZ,Sheyla (NCATW) 6-4, 1-6, 6-0
3. MARTINEZ,Angelica (NCATW) def. COVER,Lynsey (NCCU) 7-6, 6-4
4. HILTON-ADAMS,Nadia (NCATW) def. JEREMIC,Tamara (NCCU) 6-4, 6-2
5. SMOLIKOVA,Klara (NCATW) def. PENA,Emily (NCCU) 6-1, 6-4
6. CHAWLA,Kanishka (NCATW) def. MULLIS,Lauren (NCCU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles competition:
1. ROGERS,Jamie/COVER,Lynsey (NCCU) def. RAMIREZ,Sheyla/MARTINEZ,Angelica (NCATW) 6-2
2. GABRIEL,Jasmine/PENA,Emily (NCCU) def. POWELL,Khalia/HILTON-ADAMS,Nadia (NCATW) 7-6
3. SMOLIKOVA,Klara/CHAWLA,Kanishka (NCATW) def. JEREMIC,Tamara/MULLIS,Lauren (NCCU) 6-2
