ASHEVILLE, NC – Many tough matches lie ahead for the North Carolina A&T men's tennis team. But what the Aggies have accomplished before the calendar has flipped to April is eye-opening to Aggies and opponents who have become accustomed to defeating the A&T men's tennis program yearly.
On Thursday, the Aggies defeated former Big South Conference foe, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs, 4-3, at the Asheville Racquet Club. The win furthers the best start in school history as the Aggies improved to 7-0 in 2023. A&T's win avenges a 4-3 loss to the last year in Greensboro.
"I am happy for this win and how everyone fought," said graduate Vasil Ivanov. "Overall, everyone performed at a high level. Right now, we need to keep improving and working hard."
Ivanov's 37th career win at No. 3 singles clinched the nail-biter. He beat Chester Wickwire 6-4, 6-4, but Esteban Lopez's No. 1 singles win catapulted the Aggies in the right direction. It was a gutsy win that saw Lopez fall behind early to Sam Nicholson. Nicholson even broke Lopez's serve to tie the first set at 5.
But Lopez recovered to score the next two points, including getting back his serve to win 7-5. He had a better start in the second set, leading 4-0 before Nicholson rallied to cut Lopez's lead to 5-4. Lopez won the final game to improve to 4-3 on the season.
The win was a relief for Lopez and a confidence builder because he came into Thursday's contest having lost three of his last four singles matches, with all three losses coming in three sets. Lopez and Ivanov did not get a chance to finish their doubles match because the Bulldogs had already won the doubles points before their match started.
A&T freshman Alex Martinez and sophomore Eder Blanco lost to Harry Thursfield and Bruno Serra 6-4, and Ian Pedersen and Mathieu Dussaubat lost to Nicholson and Wickwire 6-2. The loss marked Pedersen's first loss of the season, doubles or singles.
However, Pedersen remained undefeated in singles play, defeating Rafa Serra 7-6 (7-3), 6-0. Pedersen lost to Serra in three sets last season in a contest that could have given the Aggies the win a year ago. Pedersen started the match trailing 2-0 before rallying to tie the first at 6-6.
He won the tiebreaker and breezed through the second set to improve to 7-0. Pedersen has won nine straight singles matches dating back to last season.
"Knowing his game style, let me create a tactic since the start of the match," said Pedersen about his No. 5 singles win. "At the beginning, I was hitting the right shots, but I wasn't making them. But little by little, I started playing better. In the second set, I kept doing the same thing. I was less nervous, and I was hitting better. Then, he started missing more."
Unfortunately, Blanco did lose his first singles match in 2023. Blanco lost at No. 2 singles to Thursfield 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 (8-0). He dropped to 6-1 on the season. A&T endured another loss at No. 6 singles as Tarek Erlewein defeated Dussaubat 6-4, 6-4.
But Blanco's doubles partner, Martinez, won at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 6-2, over Bruno Serra. "I'm very happy for the team because this is a great win. I'm super happy for every one of us."
A tough schedule lies ahead for the Aggies as they face UNC Greensboro and N.C. State on Sunday with the UNCG match starting at 10 a.m. at UNCG, and the NCSU match beginning at 5 p.m., in Raleigh at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
