GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis faced its first team from the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) on Friday and looked highly impressive. The Aggies improved to 13-3 overall with a 6-1 win over the Hampton Pirates at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
A&T had to recover from a disappointing 4-3 loss at UNC Greensboro on Thursday to secure the victory over its only HBCU rival in the CAA. A&T's march toward the win started by taking the best of three competition for the doubles point.
The Aggies started with a win at No. 2 doubles. Sophomore Lucas Coupo-Moison and freshman Jindrich Brill competed together for the 12th time this season. They earned a 6-2 win over Hampton's Benedict Badza and Yanozie Amadike to improve to 10-2 during the 2024-25 season.
Hampton evened things with a win at No. 3 doubles. Hampton's Donte Armbrister and Marko Stoilkovski defeated junior Mathieu Dussaubat and Kaua Santos 7-6. But the doubles point went A&T's way when the Aggies' No. 1 duo of senior Ian Pedersen and sophomore Said Akbarov claimed a 7-5 victory over Aryan Arora and Kevin Jorquera.
Coupo-Moison also performed superbly in singles play, beating Armbrister 6-2, 6-2 to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead. That was followed by Santos winning in straight sets at the No. 4 position, defeating Jorquera 6-1, 6-4. A&T clinched the win at No. 3 singles with Akbarov beating Stoilkovski 6-1, 7-6, 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
Brill also needed a tiebreaker win. Brill won the first set over Badza 7-6, 7-4 in the tiebreaker before claiming the second set 6-2. Brill's impressive rookie campaign continues. He improved to 12-1 this season. He is tied for the team lead in wins with Akbarov. Dussaubat improved to 11-4 with his win on Friday.
At No. 6 singles, Dussaubat secured a 7-5, 6-4 win over Arora. A&T's one defeat on Friday was Pedersen's only defeat at No. 2 singles this season. Pedersen lost to Amadike in three sets. After beating Pedersen in a close first set, 7-6, Pedersen evened the match with a 6-2 win in the second set. But Amadike won the third set to give the Pirates their lone point.
The Aggies return to action on Saturday against the International Tennis Association's (ITA) 28th-ranked team in the nation, the Georgia Bulldogs. The match starts at 5 p.m. in Athens, Ga.
