STAUNTON, VA- The Chowan University men's tennis team was victorious over Bluefield State College with a 5-4 win on Friday evening. The Blues are currently the #1 ranked team in the NCAA D2 ITA Atlantic Region. They are also ranked #31 in the D2 ITA polls. The Hawks improved to 15-7 while the Big Blues slipped to 12-3 with the setback.
 
The Hawks are currently ranked No.4 in the Atlantic Region and earned their first  program win over the a nationally ranked institution.

In doubles competition, Farid Hajizada and Adi Kaliakperov picked up the number one doubles win for the Hawks with their 8-2 defeat over Alexander Rudenco and Luca Ockernahl while Mateusz Izycki and Mariano Yeh secured the second doubles match 9-7 over Anthony Braem and Giorgi Datashvili. Bluefield regrouped in the third doubles position to win 8-2, when Platon Gud and Guillermo Cortes-Lopez beat Rafael Goncalves and Louis Proulx.

In singles play, Chowan picked up wins in the number one and number two singles matches.  Kaliakperov defeated Braem 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the number one position while Hajizada beat Gud 6-2, 6-3, in the second seeded singles match. At the number three singles Izycki dropped to Rudenco in a tiebreaker 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-7, while Goncalves secured the number four position 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 for Chowan over Ockernahl. Yeh fell in the fifth singles match 7-6(4), 6-4 to Datashvili. Ignacio Pulido competed for Bulefield at the number six singles play to win 6-4, 6-3 over Proulx.

The Hawks return to the courts on April 17th when they return to Staunton, Virginia to compete against University of Charleston. First serve is set for 3:00pm.