#2 Radford Knocks Off #6 North Carolina A&T, Advances to Title Match
Radford (13-7, 6-1 BSC) dominated North Carolina A&T 4-1 Saturday afternoon in the Big South Semifinals to advance to their third straight Big South Championship.
In doubles play the Highlanders were efficient in dispatching the Aggies to gain a 1-0 advantage.
Demis Taramonlis and
Andres Silva remained unbeaten against Big South opponents with their 6-1 win on court one.
Aditya Balsekar and
Robert Hagen also went to work winning on court three 6-1 to wrap up the doubles point.
In singles play the dominance continued.
Konstantinos Raptis was practically flawless on court four winning 6-0, 6-0 in record time to make it a 2-0 Radford lead. Taramonlis wrapped up his stellar day on court one with another huge win 6-0, 6-1 and it was suddenly a 3-0 Radford lead.
North Carolina A&T did not go down without a fight as all four remaining courts were contested. The Aggies took court two to make it a 3-1 match leaving it up to one of Silva, Balsekar or Hagen to clinch the match in Radford's favor.
The senior leader Silva stepped up big for Radford fighting back in the first set to win a tight tiebreaker 10-8 and then cruised in the second set to seal up court three and win the match for Radford.
Balsekar and Hagen had dropped their first sets but both fought back to make things close. Balsekar won his second set and had a commanding lead in the third set before play stopped. Hagen was also one point away from forcing a third set on court six.
With the win, Radford clinches an appearance in their third straight Big South Championship. This year's opponent will be the top-seeded Campbell who defeated Presbyterian 4-3 in the semifinals. It'll be a rematch between the two squads who also faced off in the 2019 Big South Championship.