ETTRICK, Va. – Winston-Salem State and Shaw will meet for the 2012 Men’s CIAA Tennis Championship after downing their opponents in play Friday afternoon at the tennis courts on the Virginia State campus.  Winston-Salem State won a hard-fought match against Virginia State 5-3, while Shaw had a relatively easy time defeating Chowan 5-0.

After number three seed Winston-Salem State took the doubles matches 2-1, number two seed Virginia State responded by grabbing the first two singles matches reported.  VSU’s Nicholas Pfab at the number five slot defeated Chris Jeter 6-1, 6-3, while teammate Evan Dirksen downed Drew Dunzweiler 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.

The Rams’ number one singles player, Leandro Imaz, then defeated Emmanuel Haug 6-1, 7-5, while his teammate at the number two slot, Creighton Jones defeated Avery Saunders 6-1, 6-3.

The number four singles match became the focus, with Nicholas John of Winston-Salem State and Nicholas Brown of Virginia State each claiming a 6-2 set victory.  John then captured the tiebreaker 10-7 to give the Rams five wins in the best-of-nine format.

The second competition of the afternoon was more lopsided.  Number one seed Shaw took the second and third doubles with 8-0 and 8-1 results, respectively.  The top doubles -  Juan Sanchez and Charles Silva for the Bears and Danilo Galovic and Adam Moneypenny for the fourth-seeded Hawks – were locked in an even match.  Silva and Sanchez eventually prevailed with a 9-8 win.

Needing only two singles wins for the trip to the championship, Shaw took the win quickly with both Silva and Sanchez recording 6-0, 6-0 wins over their opponents.

The reigning seven-time defending champion Bears will look to make it eight in a row when they face the Rams at 11:00 Saturday morning at the tennis courts on the campus of Virginia State.