TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Walid Gtari's three-set victory lifted Bethune-Cookman to a dramatic 4-3 win over Florida A&M in a key Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference match Saturday morning.
The Rattlers (7-10 overall, 3-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference South) took the doubles points and had two singles win come in for a 3-0 lead.
Alvaro Barrera and Greg Almeida finished straight set wins to bring Bethune-Cookman (11-11,3-1) to 3-2, then Alexander Chepik erased a 5-2 second set deficit to win his No. 1 singles match to make the team score 3-3.
Gtari, a senior, downed Karlyn Small 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 at No. 2 singles for the win.
“Having the last match in my hands felt good,” Gtari said. “I knew I needed to win and went out and did what I had to do.”
This was the fourth time this season the Wildcats have won a match that came down to the final point. It's also the first time the Wildcats have beaten the Rattlers in Tallahassee and will help shape the Wildcats' seeding at the conference tournament April 21-23 in Norfolk, Va. The official seedings will be announced April 18.
“The guys have wanted to prove that we're just as good as South Carolina State and FAMU, and that a third team can win the conference championship,” said B-CU Head Coach Tim Pleasant. “We did that today. It came down to a senior making the plays.”
Bethune-Cookman plays No. 23 Florida State Sunday evening.
WOMEN FALL TO FAMU 4-3.
The Lady Wildcats' 17-match MEAC conference winning streak ended Saturday as Florida A&M rallied to a one-point win.
Bethune-Cookman (11-12, 4-1) won the doubles points behind the tandems of Mina Matsuba/Matea Roki and Ancia Ifill/Alejandra Vidal before the Rattlers (8-11, 4-1) took four of the six singles matches.
“FAMU outplayed us in singles, they forced us into errors and we couldn't change the pace of the match,” Pleasant said. “This shows the conference tournament is wide open. I feel we have the best players, but it takes a team to win the championship.”
Matsuba improved to 22-0 lifetime in MEAC singles play with her ninth straight win of the season while Vidal took her eighth straight win and is now 15-6 on the season.
This was the Lady Wildcats' regular season finale. The defending MEAC champions will learn their MEAC tournament seeding next Monday.
