By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
After finishing the regular season as the number one ranked team in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), the Wildcats of Fort Valley State University (FVSU) entered last weekend’s conference tennis championships with the hopes of claiming the SIAC title and advancing to the regional of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). In order to do that, though, the Wildcats knew that they would have to defeat a tough field of competition, including the team they lost to in last year’s championship match, the Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College.
As a result of the regular season play, the Wildcats received a bye in the first round of the tournament. They met the Tigers of Benedict College in the semi-finals and easily won the match, 5-2. Dwayne White defeated Edward Cox (6-0, 6-0) and Brandon Pringle beat Dominique Greene (6-1, 6-1). In doubles action, the Wildcats won two of three matches with the teams of Andrew Belk and Pringle and White/Kelvin Oliver winning their matches by an 8-0 score.
The win over Benedict advanced the Wildcats to the championship match. And as expected, the Wildcats would meet the defending conference champs, the Maroon Tigers of Morehouse College.
The competition started and quickly turned in favor of Morehouse in doubles action. Although Belk and Pringle won their doubles match (8-1), the Wildcats dropped the other two doubles matches and trailed 2-1 as singles competition was set to begin.
The news from singles play was just as disappointing for the Wildcats. Three successive loses by the Wildcats sealed the 5-1 championship win for the Maroon Tigers.
However, the news was not all bad for the Wildcats. Tommy Williams and Dwayne White were named to the SIAC All-Tournament Team in singles play and the doubles team of White and Kevin Oliver were named to the All-Tournament Team as well.
-Wildcats Athletics-
