March 15, 2006

Results

The Alabama A&M Men's Tennis team had a productive 2 days in Montgomery at the SWAC East Round-Up. While the men were seeking a first ever East title, they will gladly take 2nd and another trip to the conference championship.

"I thought we had a solid chance to make that next step," commented Bulldogs coach Thomas Colvin. "We played well over the 2 days, but not quite well enough."

The Bulldogs managed to win 3 of their 4 matches against the rest of the East division. The lone loss came in a 3-4 decision against Alcorn State, last season's championship runner-up.

The Bulldogs never seemed to get on track in doubles and lost the point to the Braves. In singles, the Braves got just enough to hold off a strong effort by the men in maroon. A&M was able to win at 3, 5 and 6 singles, Shingie Nyagura, Arda Kaytan and Cardinas Campbell respectively.

In the afternoon match of the first day, the Bulldogs completely handled the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State, 7-0.

Against Jackson State the following morning, the Bulldogs seemed to have pulled things together in getting a tough win against a much improved Tiger team.

The Bulldogs started off as they had against Alcorn the previous day by losing the doubles point. In singles, AAMU got 4 of the 6 singles points to score a come-from-behind win. Wins came at the 2, 3, 5 and 6 spots for A&M, Willis Mbandi, Shingie Nyagura, Arda Kaytan and Cardinas Campbell.

In the Bulldogs last match of the round-up, they faced off with arch-rival, Alabama State. Needing a win to clinch the #2 seed, the Bulldogs left nothing to doubt as they took a 7-0 win.

"I'm glad we were able to get three wins here and let some new players get some time in," Colvin said. "I saw some glimpses over these 2 days that gives me some hope for the rest of this season. Some players who haven't gotten much playing time before this did well and that is always good."