EAST GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T is not taking anyone for granted. Men's tennis uses every match to prepare for a challenging Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament conducted April 20-23. Therefore, the Aggies view every opponent as one of those talented CAA teams.
On Thursday afternoon, the Methodist Monarchs got that impression as the Aggies took no mercy in a 7-0 win over the Monarchs at the Dudley High School Tennis Courts. The win improves the Aggies to 5-0 on the season as the Aggies earned their second shutout of the season after beating Shaw University 7-0 on Feb. 26.
"We need to step it up mentally to be in the CAA," said A&T head coach Dejon Bivens. "We need to be focused on everyone, no matter who comes to Aggieland."
The Aggies only lost three games over three doubles matches against the Monarchs in winning the doubles point. Senior Esteban Lopez and graduate Vasil Ivanov defeated Matthew Hurley and Andrew Wood 8-2 at No. 1 doubles. Freshman Alex Martinez teamed with sophomore Eder Blanco to defeat Wills Belser and Cameron Roth at No. 2 doubles 8-1.
The duo is now 3-1 on the season. "In doubles, we did what we had to do and won without complications," said Martinez. "We had to be aggressive and go to the net as soon as possible."
Sophomore Ian Pedersen and freshman Mathieu Dussaubat, the reigning CAA men's doubles team of the week, improved to 3-0 on the season with an 8-0 win over Brandy Mendler and Royce South.
"Today was an easier match, but we still had to come in and do our thing," said Pedersen. "In doubles, we played very solid with our serves making the most of our serves, which gave us an early advantage on every point."
A&T also dominated singles play, winning all six matches in straight sets. In addition, the Aggies won four singles matches without the Methodist opponent winning a game.
Blanco (No.2), Ivanov (No. 3), Martinez (No. 4) and Pedersen (No. 5) all won their singles matches 6-0. Blanco and Pedersen improved to 5-0 on the season. Martinez is 4-1, and Ivanov is 3-1. Ivanov won his 36th career singles win.
"In singles, I worked hard to start my match as strong as possible and without making many mistakes since I was failing to do it in the first matches of the season," said Pedersen. "I also focused on being aggressive during the match and finishing the points on the net, and I also worked on staying mentally focused on my game from the beginning to the end."
Lopez had the toughest singles match of the day at No. 1 when he defeated Hurley 6-3, 7-6. Dussaubat only allowed his opponent to win one game in a 6-0, 6-1 over Evan Kane.
I played really well, really aggressively, and didn't relax because of the opponent's level," said Blanco. "I kept being aggressive and took my chances whenever I had them. I'm happy with today's win and hyped to keep pushing this Sunday against Norfolk State."
The Aggies face Norfolk State at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
