Rams rack up first CIAA title

The Winston-Salem State men's tennis team won its first conference championship in school history at the CIAA Tournament April 18-20 in Petersburg, Va.

Men's Tennis Coach Brian Coxton said he could not be happier with the way his team performed during the tournament.

"I'm very proud of these guys," Coxton said of his team.

"I mean all the hard work we put in; the dedication, the 6 a.m. [practices]. That goes to show you that if you stick to something, great things will happen."

Although Coxton said WSSU [13-8 as of April 25] had the goal of winning the CIAA title going into the season, he admitted it wasn't easy staying optimistic about their championship hopes when the team lost six straight matches in the middle of the season.

"I guess those losses back-to-back kind of make you second guess," Coxton said.

"But I still believed in their [the players] talent and what they could do." 

However, once the conference tournament began, he said he could see his team was really motivated to claim the CIAA crown.

"The moment the tournament started,  I knew these guys were ready," Coxton said.

"You could see it in their eyes they wanted it [the conference title] real bad."

The fourth-seeded Rams started out the CIAA Tournament defeating Virginia Union 5-0 in the opening round.

In the semifinals, WSSU was triumphant against the top-seeded Shaw Bears winning 5-2.  This was a huge victory for the Rams as Shaw had already beat WSSU twice earlier in the season. The Bears had also won the last eight CIAA championships.

"Conference wise everybody is tough, but there is always one team to beat, and that's Shaw," Coxton said.   

"That was one of the biggest obstacles we had to overcome."

Finally to win the tournament, WSSU defeated Chowan 5-0 in the championship match.

Key performers for the Rams throughout the tournament include junior Chris Jeter and freshman Corey Bonnette.

Coxton was especially pleased with how Bonnette played.

"Everybody played their role, but one of the guys that got us that big win to take us to the finals was Corey Bonnette," Coxton said.

"It was because of him we were able to overcome Shaw."

During WSSU's win against Shaw, Bonnette beat Bears junior Andre Monti 6-2, 6-1 in a singles match.  In Bonnette's doubles match against Shaw with teammate freshman Josh Aubrey, they won 8-3 against freshman Samuel Padillia and sophomore Juan Sanchez. 

"As a freshman that's a big thing," Coxton said of Bonnette's performance.

"The sky is the limit for him, and I'm just looking forward to coaching him for the next three years."

Bonnette said he is ecstatic to win a conference championship, especially in his first season.

"This is probably the highlight of my life," Bonnette said.

"We worked hard to get to this point, and we got it done."

Bonnette credits the success he's been able to have for the Rams to always giving max effort when he's on the court.

"I just try to go out and play my hardest. Give 110 percent every match," he said.

"I believe every match is winnable."

With being victorious in the conference tournament, WSSU earned the right to enter the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament that began April 27.

This is WSSU's second trip to the regional tournament in the last three seasons.