HAMPTON, Va. – Monday became a newsworthy day for the North Carolina A&T men's tennis program. The Aggies traveled to Hampton University and defeated the Pirates 7-0 in a Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play at Neilson-Screen Stadium. 

Also, the CAA released the pairings for the 2024 CAA Men's Tennis Championship Tournament on Monday. The Aggies, who improved to 14-4 overall on Monday after the win over Hampton, will be the No. 9 seed at the CAA tournament slated for April 18-21 at William & Mary's Mackesy Tennis Center. A&T's first-round opponent will be the College of Charleston (11-10) on Thursday, April 18 at 9 a.m. If the Aggies win, they will face top-seeded UNC Wilmington (14-5) on Friday morning at 9.

Despite the score, the Aggies had to battle against the Pirates. Junior Ian Pedersen and freshman Said Akbarov had a dominant performance against the Hampton duo of Shine Tokas and Benjamin Mwanza. They defeated the Hampton pair 7-0 to improve to 11-4 during the 2024 season. The Aggies clinched the doubles point with a thrilling No. 1 doubles matchup. 

A&T graduate Esteban Lopez and freshman Lucas Cuopo-Moison defeated Donte Armbrister and Emiliano Jorquera 7-6, 7-4 in the tiebreaker. Simultaneously, a sensational match at No. 3 doubles occurred between A&T freshman Kaua Santos and A&T sophomore Mathieu Dussaubat and Hampton's Arora Aryan and Daniel Flynn. Aryan and Flynn out-dueled Santos and Dussaubat to win 7-6, 7-3 in the tiebreaker. 

Dussaubat bounced back to win at No. 6 singles over Mwanza 6-0, 6-0. By winning his fourth straight singles match, Dussaubat improved to 5-1 on the season. At No. 2 singles, Coupo-Moison also won in straight sets. He defeated Flynn 6-2, 6-4. The remaining four singles matches went three sets, including at No. 1 singles, where Lopez defeated Jorquera 6-0, 3-6, 7-5.

Lopez improved to 14-3 during the 2024 season and 45-26 for his career. He needs three more wins to break Vasil Ivanov's program record for singles wins (47). He already owns the program record for No. 1 singles wins. 

With the match in A&T's win column, the Aggies also took a victory at No. 3 singles as Akbarov beat Armbrister 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-3. Akbarov improved to 14-3 on the season. He is 6-2 at the No. 3 singles position. Pederson grabbed a win at No. 4 singles. He defeated Tokas 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to improve to 13-3 overall and 3-3 at No. 4 singles. Santos closed out the evening for A&T by defeating Arora 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Santos is also 14-3 on the year. Before the tournament, the Aggies will face Norfolk State at 1 p.m., Tuesday in Norfolk, Va. 

The Aggies were the No. 5 seed at last season's tournament and lost to Drexel 4-0 in the first round. Charleston and A&T had four common opponents during the spring – Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina Central, UNC Greensboro, and Longwood. The Aggies were 2-2 against those opponents, and the Cougars won all four matchups.