Sherri Fillingham 04/17/10
Defeat Virginia State 5-2
(Petersburg,
VA) – The Shaw women’s tennis team captured the 2010 CIAA Championship
with a 5-2 victory against host Virginia State University Saturday
afternoon. This is the second straight season the Lady Bears have won
the championship. The Lady Bears broke to an early lead with a 2-1 score in the doubles. All-CIAA selections Fernanda Silva and Livia Oliveira shut out the Lady Trojans’ Donna Johnson and Keshia Holmes 8-0 at No. 1.
Lolia Kienka, CIAA Tennis Player of the Year and her All-CIAA doubles partner Evan Okafor came away with an 8-2 victory. VSU’s Shakira Norville and Alexandria McMcray defeated Xania Steele and Janae Williams (SU) 8-2 in No. 3 doubles play.
Asia Thomas (VSU) beat out Janae Williams (SU) 6-0 in the first set and 6-2 in the second at the No. 6 singles slot to tie the team score at 2-2. Kienka soon turned in a 6-2, 6-1 win at number one singles, giving the Bears a 3-2 lead.
Shaw sealed the championship with a win by Silva against Holmes (6-1, 6-1) in No. 2 singles, followed by a victory in No. 4 singles by Okafor over Ingram (6-2, 6-1). The No. 3 and No. 5 singles matches went unfinished, but Oliveira and All-CIAA selection Steele were ahead.
The conference has elected to alter of the format of this year’s championships. Instead of individual seeding by flight, teams faced each other in a single elimination, first to five match points tournament format. Shaw won the title last season under the previous format and again this season under the new format.
The win put Shaw at 22-4 on the year, and 15-0 in the conference. VSU finished their season at 18-5 and 13-1 in the CIAA.
The tournament win gives the Lady Bears an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division II Regionals. Shaw awaits the seeding and location for tournament play.