BLUEFIELD, WV- The Shaw University men's tennis team defeated Chowan University 5-2 on Sunday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament.  The Bears advance to face Bluefield State University on Monday in the Regional Championship match while the Hawks' season ends with a 17-10 overall record with the loss. 
 
Pedro Aiala and Danilo Galovic earned an 8-3 doubles victory over Gafur Sirojiddinov and Andre Monti at the number two position.  Farid Hajizada and Ivan Doubograev came up short in the number one spot after suffering a 9-7 setback to Charles Silva and Sergio Cuartas while Bach Tran and Juan Sanchez edged Tristan Martin and Sasha Kirsanov 9-8 in the third position, allowing the Bears to take a 2-1 lead.  Hajizada and Doubograev end the year 20-5 in doubles play with Martin and Kirsanov finishing the season with a 16-10 mark. 
 
In singles play, Hajizada triumphed over Silva 6-4, 6-3 at the number one position to finish the year with a 23-5 singles record.  Cuartas defeated Aiala 6-3, 6-0 in the number two position while Sanchez topped Carlos Ramirez 6-0, 6-1 in the fourth spot. Galovic fell to Monti in the sixth position resulting in the 5-2 win over Shaw.  Matches in the third and fifth positions remained unfinished using the first-to-five format. 
 
Aiala competed in his final match for the Blue and White on Sunday.  He was a member of two CIAA Runner-up teams while earning All-CIAA honors.  

The Hawks finished as CIAA Regular Season Co-Champions in 2014 and were the first team to earn an at-large bid in any sport in school history.