Men's Tennis | 2/14/2025 11:03:00 PM
Box Score
GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis team is 1-0 again. For the third straight season, the Aggies won their season. In 2025, their season-opening win came as a 7-0 triumph over Bluefield State at the Piedmont Indoor Center on Friday.
"We played well for the match, progressively putting our nerves on the side," said sophomore Lucas Coupo-Moison.
The Aggies opened the season by sweeping the doubles point, starting with a win at No. 3 doubles as sophomore Kaua Santos and junior Mathieu Dussaubat defeated Bluefield State's Tim Volz and Pranav Sirivella, 6-0. A&T clinched the doubles point with a win at No. 2. Freshman Jindrich Brill and sophomore Said Akbarov won 6-3 over Said Santin and Pablo Perez Terol.
Coupo-Moison and Senior Ian Pedersen completed the sweep with a 6-3 win over Alessandro Perez and Pablo Garcia.
"Overall, it was a good match," Pedersen said about his doubles win. "We were doing the things we do at practice and in the important moments, we played a little bit better."
Pedersen, who entered the 2025 season with a 37-18 singles record, earned win No. 38 on Friday with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Garcia at No. 2 singles. Santos put the Aggies ahead 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Perez Terol.
"From the beginning, I was trying to take control of the points and be aggressive with my shots," Pedersen said about his win over Garcia. "I made a few unforced errors, but in the important moments, I was able to raise my level and win most of the points."
Pedersen added that returning to competitive action on the collegiate level feels good, and he is looking forward to how the season goes. Meanwhile, Santos said fight and lots of energy fueled his win over Perez Terol. Dussaubat kept the fight going in singles play.
He defeated Volz, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles to improve to 17-9 in his career. A&T's lead moved to 5-0 as Coupo-Moison handed Santin a 6-2, 6-1 loss at No. 1 singles. Akbarov added to the dominance with his 6-1, 6-4 win over Perez.
"It was a really good match. My level was there thanks to the hard work I put in during the past few months of preparation," said Coupo-Moison. "I missed this feeling of playing and enjoying the game."
Coupo-Moison said he looks forward to A&T's next match on Saturday evening against Belmont Abbey College, starting at 5:30 from the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center. The Aggies could look forward to the next day after Brill defeated Sirivella 6-0, 6-2 at No. 5 singles for his first collegiate singles win.
