GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T women's tennis team endured three straight losses to Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) teams, culminating in the Aggies 5-2 loss to the Hampton Pirates Sunday afternoon at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center. The Aggies are now 0-4 against the CAA while dropping 8-9 overall.
Sunday's loss to Hampton marks A&T's final contest against a CAA opponent.
Hampton started the afternoon by winning the doubles point. An A&T forfeit assisted the Pirates at No. 3 doubles. Hampton then used a win at No. 2 doubles by Meiri Okuwaki and Masa Mitic to clinch the doubles point. The duo beat freshmen Juana Gomez Weiss and Dorsa Cheraghi 6-2 before Diana Starodubtseva and Serena Bryan beat the A&T No. 1 doubles team of sophomore Randy Rakotoarilala and junior Hana El Sherif 6-3 to complete the doubles sweep.
The Pirates entered singles play with a 2-0 lead thanks to an A&T forfeit at No. 6 singles. El Sherif got the Aggies back into the match by defeating Hampton's Sofia Sokolova 6-0, 6-2. El Sherif improved to 9-8 this season. She is second on the team in singles wins.
Hampton regained control of the match with a win at No. 2 singles. Okuwaki defeated Weiss Gomez 6-2, 6-4. She dropped to 10-7 this season but remains in a tie for the team lead in singles wins with 10. That's because freshman Flavia Villegas got the Aggies to within one, 3-2, with a win at No. 5 singles. Villegas improved to 10-5 as a singles player and has the team's best winning percentage at .667. But the match clincher came at No. 1 singles.
Rakotoarilala won the first set at No. 1 singles, beating Starodubtseva 6-4. Starodubtseva won the second set 6-2 before blanking Rakotoarilala 6-0 in the third set. Hampton closed the match with a win at No. 4 single in a three-setter. Bryan defeated A&T freshman Dorsa Cheraghi 6-2 in the first set before Cheraghi won the second 7-5. But Cheraghi also had a tough third set, losing to Bryan 6-0.
The Aggies will remain in Greensboro, NC, for their next match as they travel to UNC Greensboro to face the Spartans on Thursday, April 10, at 3 p.m. from the UNCG Tennis Courts.
