CHARLOTTE, NC- The CIAA Men's Championship match came down to the wire but Shaw University had the final say as the Chowan University men's tennis team fell 5-4 to the Bears on Saturday evening.  The Bears advance to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament with the win, having earned an automatic bid.

Shaw posts a 9-7 record on the season while Chowan stands 12-11 on the year. 

The Bears took two out of three wins in doubles play to gain momentum early in the contest.  Tristan Martin and Danilo Galovic fell to Bach Tran and Juan Sanchez 8-2 in number two doubles play while Rafael Goncalves and Farid Hajizada came up short in an 8-5 decision against Diego Choque and Sergio Cuartas.  Ivan Doubograev and Sasha Kirsanov were credited with a win by forfeit in the third position. 

Carlos Ramirez picked up a win by forfeit in the number six position, knotting the score 2-2.  Rafael Goncalves and Farid Hajizada emerged victorious in the number one and two singles positions, respectively.  Goncavles defeated Gafur Sirojiddinov 6-4, 6-0 while Hajizada topped 6-4, 6-3. 

The Bears answered the call as Juan Sanchez outlasted Enrique Barge 7-5, 6-3 in the fifth position and Choque downed Doubograev 6-0, 6-3.  With the match tied 4-4, Martin and Tran battled through tiebreaker play with the title on the line.  Tran ultimately prevailed, topping Martin 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. 

The Hawks end the season with the CIAA regular season title and had five players named to the All-CIAA Team.  Barge, Doubograev, Goncalves, Hajizada and Martin all earned All-Conference recognition, highlighted by Goncalves garnering CIAA Player and Rookie of the Year honors.