MURFREESBORO, NC- The Chowan University men's tennis team picked up a 5-1 victory in the preliminary round of the NCAA DII Men's Tennis Atlantic Region II Tournament over West Virginia Wesleyan College. The Hawks improve to a 16-7 overall record while the Bobcats dropped to a 17-7 on the season with the setback.  

In doubles competition, at the number one doubles play Adi Kaliakperov and Farid Hajizada defeated Nathon Sabate and Alexader Lyudinovskiy 8-2 while, Rafael Goncalves and Louis Proulx beat Ferran Begra and Jacobo Rendon 8-2 at the number three doubles. The Bobcats, Ramon Rodriquez and Pedro Nassar secured the number two doubles with a 8-5 win over Mariano Yeh and Mateusz Izycki.

The Hawks led 2-1 heading into singles play. Hajizada picked up the number two singles position (6-1, 6-3) over Rodriquez while Kaliakperov grabbed the number one singles match (6-4, 6-2) for the Blue and White.  With Chowan leading West Virginia Wesleyan 4-1, only needing one more point to win in clichéd play. The Hawks secured the 5-1 win at the sixth singles match when Louis Proulx beat Thomas McIntosh (6-4, 6-0).

Head Coach Christian Stambaugh  stated "This was a magnificent accomplishment, this took a lot of work, this is the hardest working team ive ever coached"

The Hawks will advance to the D2 Championship in Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida, May 9th-13th.