DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – South Carolina State downed Bethune-Cookman 7-0 in a meeting of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division leaders Thursday afternoon.

Both teams entered the match with 3-0 conference records. The Bulldogs (12-2 overall, 4-0 MEAC) will clinch the Division's 1 No. 1 seed for the conference tournament April 17-19 in Cayce, South Carolina.

Bethune-Cookman (12-12,3-1) can maintain its No. 2 status with a victory over Florida A&M in its regular season finale on April 11.

“We're gearing up for the conference tournament,” said B-CU Head Coach Tim Pleasant. By then, we should be at full strength and in position to challenge South Carolina State. They're very strong, as today indicated.”

The Wildcats, who had never won more than two match in conference  since divisional was established in 2008, only had the services of Walid Gtari, who leads the teams with 12 singles victories, for doubles.

Alvaro Barrera won the second set of his No. 5 singles match before falling in a tiebreaker. Alexander Chepik rallied from a 6-1 deficit to force a 6-6 in his second-set tiebreaker at No. 1 singles before dropping his match.