ATLANTA – Bethune-Cookman Women's Tennis enjoyed a positive showing over the weekend at the 24th Annual HBCU National Tennis Championships housed at South Fulton Tennis Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
 
Jalayah Shaw, a junior from Plant City, Florida, fell in her opening round Flight A singles draw to Sydney Brantley (Tennessee State) in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. She then fell to Ekin Ozmen (Bluefield State) in the consolation draw 8-5. Other main draw singles play for Flight A used sophomore Zahara El-Zein as she faced off against Howard's Imani Jean, falling to the Bison player in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
 
In the consolation round of Flight A is where El-Zein shined, winning two of her next three matches.
 
The Harare, Zimbabwe native defeated Florida A&M's Veronica Rodriguez 8-6, before turning around and claiming an 8-3 win over Alcorn State's Natalija Nikolic 8-3. She then fell to Diana Craciun of Alabama State 9-7 in the consolation final.
 
In Flight A doubles action, Shaw and El-Zein fell to the duo of Gabrielle Pierce and Reagan Harris of Florida A&M 6-2. Also in Flight A doubles were the tandem of freshmen Madison Molock and Taylor fell in their opening match to Tennessee State's team of Claudia Murdasanu and Taylor Ellis 6-4.
 
"Zahara [El-Zein] had a great run in the consolation round for Flight A," said Head Coach Chris Wollett. "It was awesome to see her take out some SWAC opponents, and I really think that should give her some confidence going into the next tournament. It was heartbreaking in the loss for the finals of consolation, but she should be proud of how hard she played."
 
Flight B singles saw freshman Madison Molock from Ocala, Florida, took her opening match in the main draw from Clark Atlanta's Alexandra Turnbough in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. She followed with a walkover decision from FAMU's Genesis Whitelock. Her final match saw her fall to Nardine Salem 6-0, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
 
In Flight B doubles, Molock joined classmate Taylor O'Neal to take down Claudia Mudasanu and Taylor Ellis of Tennessee State 6-4. The Wildcats duo fell in the round of 16 to Maja Brnic and Sanai LeSure of Xavier (La.) 6-2.
 
O'Neal, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, collected a win in three sets from Julian Williams (Clark Atlanta) 3-6, 6-1, 10-1. Jovana Petrovic of Alabama State defeated O'Neal 6-1, 6-0 in the round of 16.
 
"I was really proud of how the Wildcats competed this weekend," remarked Wollett. "It was good to see the freshmen compete, and it was nice for them to have a couple wins in their first college tournament. I'm excited to watch them develop as we get closer to the spring season."
 
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