NEW ORLEANS, La. | Alabama State and Jackson State will play for the SWAC Men's Tennis Championship on Sunday afternoon after their semifinal matches did not finish until early Sunday morning.
Due to the lengthiness of Saturday's semifinals matches, Sunday's SWAC tennis championship matches have pushed back their start times to 11 am (women) and 3 pm (estimated for men) at the City Park Tennis Center.
In the first semifinal, top-seeded Alabama State downed fourth-seeded Alcorn State (6-14) 4-2 at the 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Men's Tennis Semifinals at the Hilton Riverside indoor tennis courts. The venue moved indoors due to rain in the area.
The Hornets (10-9) will be seeking its second consecutive title and third in the past four years.
Alabama State pushed through by displaying its depth from the middle to the back of its lineup with singles victories coming from the numbers three through five spots. Tomas Fernandez defeated Johnatan Parat 6-1, 7-6. Alexis Collard followed with a 6-1, 7-5 victory against Ivan Matas, and SWAC Freshman of the Year Chris Andre sealed the win with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph against Suyash Gupta.
The Hornets earned the doubles point with wins from Collard and Ion Efrim who topped the team of Kert Kilumets and Stojan Stojanovski 7-6; and Andre and Alejo Calvis, who beat Matas and Nuno Rocha 6-2. The Braves top two singles players earned picked up victories with Kilumets defeating Efrim 6-3, 6-1 and Stojanovski getting by Carl-Louis Luckmann 6-4, 6-3.
In the second semifinal that began at 12:57, fifth-seeded Jackson State upset second-seeded Prairie View A&M, 4-2, in a match that ended at 4:32 am.
The winner of the match earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament.
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