ORLANDO, Fla. – North Carolina A&T and Howard University men's tennis teams engaged in an old-fashioned HBCU showdown on Tuesday, with the Aggies prevailing with an exciting 4-3 win over the Bison at the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) Oak Street facility.
Later in the day, the Aggies improved to 7-0 overall with a 7-0 win over Concordia College (Minn.) at the USTA National Main Campus. Sophomore Kaua Santos clinched the win for the Aggies over Howard with a thrilling 7-6, 6-2 victory over Marcel Dawson at No. 3 singles.
It marked the first time in his career that he had been the clincher in a 3-3 contest.
"I played with so much fire," said Santos. "The Bison was trying to put me down, but my energy was higher than his."
In the first set, Santos trailed Dawson 6-5 and 40-15 within the game before unleashing a furious rally. He not only came back to win the game to even things at 6-6, but he was also down 6-2 in the tiebreaker before producing the clincher.
"I gave all the energy that I had, and I fought my way back to bring home the match for the Aggies," said Santos.
Howard gave the Aggies fits even beyond the Santos singles match. For the first time this season, the Aggies lost a doubles match and the doubles point. In fact, the Bison won all three doubles matches, starting with a win at No. 1 doubles as the Howard duo of Dawson and Michael Major, Jr. defeated Said Akbarov and Ian Pedersen, 6-1.
Freshman Jindrich and sophomore Lucas Coupo-Moison lost to the Howard team of Daniel Dunac and Kaosie Kwokedi 7-5 at No. 2 doubles. Despite a furious comeback from junior Mathieu Dussaubat and Santos, Howard completed the sweep with a super competitive 7-6, 7-4 in the tiebreaker win by Kendrick Lash and Hassimiyou Dieng.
But Brill evened the match 1-1 with a win at No. 5 singles. Brill defeated Dieng 6-0, 6-4 to improve to 6-0 at the time. Brill said he and Coupo-Moison did not play as well as they usually do, but in the singles match, his serve pulled him through and helped him take care of business. Dussaubat gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Dunac at No. 6 singles.
"I tried to make my opponent move all over the court and make him tired. That worked," said Dussaubat. I'm really proud of the team's performance and energy."
In A&T's first three-setter of the season, Akbarov defeated Lash 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, putting A&T on the brink of victory. But Pedersen lost to Major 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, and Coupo-Moison lost to Kwokedi 6-2, 7-5, setting up Santos' clincher.
The Aggies returned to their dominance later in the day against the Cobbers. A&T claimed the doubles with a sweep, starting with Santos and Dussaubat improving to 6-1 on the season with a 6-0 win over Kai Pierce and Daniel Skrade at No. 3 doubles. Coupo-Moison and Brill won at No. 2 doubles, 6-2, over Kai Kringlie and Logan Sandberg. Akbarov and Pedersen finished things off with a 6-3 win over Ryoga Yano and Isaac Maddock at No. 1 doubles.
In singles play, Akbarov remained undefeated at 7-0 with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Pierce at No. 4 singles. Brill is also unbeaten at 7-0 after his 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kringlie at No. 5 singles. Santos is 7-0 after his 6-0, 6-1 win over Sandberg at No. 3 that gave the Aggies a 4-0 lead. Pedersen returned to the win column with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Yano.
"At the end, I had mixed feelings because I wasn't satisfied with my level, but I also was happy because, as a team, we won an important match," Pedersen said about the Howard match before discussing the Concordia matchup. "I was trying to work on what I did badly in the last match and in previous matches," Pedersen added.
Dussaubat defeated Hunter Rice at No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-0 and Coupo-Moison defeated Maddock 6-3, 6-3. The Aggies return to play on Wednesday morning with an 11:30 matchup against Loyola University Maryland.
