MURFREESBORO, NC – The Chowan University women's tennis team picked up their fifth straight CIAA victory on Saturday afternoon with a 5-4 win over Shaw University.  The Hawks improve to 13-3 on the season with the win and 5-0 in league play.  The Lady Bears slide to 9-2 on the season and 7-1 against CIAA competition after the loss.

In doubles play, the Hawks dropped two of the three doubles matches to Shaw.  At the number one position, Polina Novachuk and Victoria Smolchenkova fought back from being down 1-5 to force the match into a tie breaker at 8-8 before falling to Ana Ruzir and Teodora Jovanovic 9-8(3).  Cynthia Carrier and Angelique Gouin were defeated by Marilyne Kamegne and Adrijana Martic by a score of 8-3 in the number two position, while Roxana Daneshjoo and Anna Makhneva picked up a victory by forfeit in the number three position.

After being down 1-2 heading into singles play, the Hawks were able to secure four of the singles matches for the 5-4 win.  Natalia Andrade earned a victory by forfeit in the sixth position, tying the score at 2-2. At the number five singles spot, Jessica De Backre fell to Simbiat Aleem by a score of 6-4, 6-3. In the number three singles position, Carrier handed Kamegne a 6-0, 6-4 loss, while in the number one singles match, Novachuk fell short to Ruzir by a score of 6-4, 6-3.

At number two singles, Smolchenkova earned a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jovanovic putting the overall score at 4-4. Gouin had little trouble at the number four position defeating Martic 6-2, 6-2 and clinching the 5-4 win for Chowan.

The Hawks' match against Fayetteville State originally scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. Chowan will return to action on March 22nd when they travel to Richmond, Virginia to take on conference opponent, Virginia Union University, at 1:00pm.