Tennis team preparing for CIAA tournament

The men's and women's tennis teams have shown great improvement as they prepare for the CIAA conference tournament.

The women open the tournament as regular season conference champions and the No. 1 seed.

The men have a 14-11 (11-2 conference). The women's record is 18-1 (16-0 conference).

The men's team is trailing seven-time conference champion Shaw University in the conference standings by two matches. The Lady Rams are perfect in conference (8-0) with only one loss overall.

In a CIAA showdown, the Rams took on Johnson C. Smith April 10. The Rams jumped out early with three straight wins in doubles play, 8-3, 8-6, and 8-0. The team kept things going in singles play with four singles match wins. Senior Brian Coxton took a 6-4, 6-3 win while fellow senior Ian Hunter took a 6-0, 6-1 win.

Senior Maximilian Glodde took a 6-1, 6-2 win while freshman Chris Jeter took home a shutout 6-0, 6-0 win.

"We have to adjust our strategy to beat Shaw," said freshman Nick John.

"They are very talented, and they have a lot of experience. We are second in the conference behind Shaw, and we have three freshmen that play in our top six, so match experience means a ton."

The Lady Rams have had a balanced attack all season. Leading the way are sophomores Kalin Jarvis who has a 13-2 record in singles match play and Kayla Carter 13-3.

Freshman Dominique Lindsey has a 13-5 record in singles match play.

The WSSU tennis team will look to improve their rankings as they travel to Virginia State University for the CIAA tournament, on April 20-21.

If the Rams and Lady Rams win the conference title they will receive an automatic NCAA tournament bid.