GREENSBORO – The winning streaks look more astonishing as each match concludes.
Eder Blanco has won five straight. The reigning two-time Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) men's player of the week, Esteban Lopez, has won seven straight. Perhaps the most decorated man in North Carolina A&T men's tennis history, Vasil Ivanov, has won 10 straight.
But the most impressive winning streak is 13 straight. The Aggies improved to 13-0 in men's tennis action this season with a 6-1 win over the Longwood Lancers at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center on Thursday.
The Aggies won their second straight over the Lancers after defeating them 5-2 last season in Farmville, Va. The Lancers have a streak of nine straight losses as they dropped to 5-13.
The Lancers won the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. Ivanov and Lopez had the lone win at doubles with a 6-4 win over Ernest Rocabert and Guillermo Cagigas at No. 1 doubles. The Lancer duo of Timeo Puech and Luis Reis grabbed a 6-4 win over Blanco and Alex Martinez at No. 2 doubles.
Therefore, the doubles point came down to No. 3 doubles. Gary Haung and Alejandro Uribe earned a hard-fought 7-6 win over A&T's Ian Pedersen and Mathieu Dussaubat. After starting the season 6-1, Pedersen and Dussaubat, former CAA men's doubles team of the week recipients, have lost their last two. However, they still hold the team's best winning percentage at .667.
While Longwood narrowly secured the doubles point, once singles play started, it was all A&T. Martinez grabbed a convincing 6-1, 6-1 win over Reis at No. 5 singles.
"Great collective win today," said Martinez. "We didn't have the start we wanted in doubles. We got broken early, and we couldn't break them back. The team did a great job of picking the energy up going into the singles, and we didn't let up."
That was certainly the case at No. 1 singles, where Lopez won 6-1, 6-1 against Cagigas. It was Lopez's 30th career victory as an Aggie. Ivanov is now six wins shy of 50 for his career after he captured a 6-2, 6-0 win over Rocabert. Ivanov improved to 11-1 on the season.
Pedersen continues to lead the team in singles wins as he improved to 12-1 on the season with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles. Blanco is 11-2 after his 6-4, 6-1 win over Puech. Dussaubat survived and took down Lukas Krause 6-3, 7-6.
"I started confidently because I knew this match could have gone wrong if we didn't start with good energy and didn't go through them. But we did," said Blanco. "I played aggressively to an opponent running all over the place. I took my opportunities and chances of going to the net and finishing the points."
The Aggies will try to keep all their streaks going on Tuesday, April 11, when they travel to Wilmington, NC, to face the CAA opponent UNC Wilmington at 2 p.m.
"We dominated from top to bottom. It was a good win to end the week," said Martinez about the Aggies wins over Bluefield State on Wednesday and Longwood on Thursday. "We're focused on the next one."
