ETTRICK, VA - Despite the three top seeds picking up singles wins, the men's tennis team dropped a road match to Virginia State University with a final match score of 6-3. Darick Gilman, Raitis Abolins, and Jonathan Walker all notched singles match wins in the top three seeds respectively but it wasn't enough to lift them over the homestanding Trojans. The Hawks fall to 4-9 on the season. Gilman (at left) picked up a tough-fought win in the #1 singles match after dropping the opening set.

Chowan entered the match after winning back-to-back matches at Virginia Union and the University of the District of Columbia. Gilman edged out the #1 singles match after dropping the first set 3-6. He battled back to win the second set 7-6 and took the tiebreak set 10-2 for the win. Abolins anchored the #2 singles match where he won in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Walker beat his #3 singles opponent 6-3 and 7-5 for Chowan's three wins. Virginia State swept all three doubles matches and took the #4, #5, and #6 singles matches for 6-3 win over Chowan.

The Hawks will host Shaw University at 2:00pm on Thursday for senior day and the final match of the 2009 season.