Men's Tennis | 4/1/2025 6:00:00 PM

GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T sophomore men's tennis Said Akbarov had a week not had by many in the program's history.

Following his fantastic week, the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) recognized him as its men's co-player of the week on Tuesday. Akbarov joins senior teammate Ian Pedersen as Aggies, who have won co-player of the week honors from the CAA this season.

Akbarov went an amazing 4-0 during the week, winning all four at No. 3 singles. In addition, Akbarov went 2-0 at doubles, with Pedersen serving as his doubles partner.

His week started with a straight-set win over Montreat's Jorge Cebria 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday before he downed UNC Greensboro's Luke Thomson on Thursday, 6-1, 6-2. The Aggies went 1-1 on those contests, beating Montreat 7-0 before losing to the Spartans 4-3.

Akbarov and the Aggies entered Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) competition on Friday, where Akbarov defeated Hampton's Marko Stoilkovski, 6-1, 7-6, as the Aggies beat the Pirates 6-1. The week culminated with Akbarov defeating the University of Georgia's Felipe Costa.

The Bulldogs entered the match as the 28th-ranked team in the nation, defeating the Aggies 5-1. Akbarov improved to 14-2 overall and 7-0 at No. 3 singles after the week. Akbarov goes by the nickname Bash.

"Bash is just exceptional, and last week's performance has proven that," said A&T head men's tennis coach Dejon Bivens. "He is and has always been a professional caliber of player, but it has taken him some time and a lot of patience for him to start to buy into what I see in him. Last week was one of those weeks where we both were in sync as coach and player and when he is focused and locked in with me, Bash is unbeatable."

Bivens called Akbarov's match last week in Athens, Ga., breathtaking. He also stated that Akbarov deserved the honor he received on Tuesday. Akbarov teamed with Pedersen to beat the Montreat duo of Danel Diez and Bruno Casimir Gehlhar 6-0 before their match against UNCG's John Gabelic and Tymofiy Khrystyuk went unfinished with Akbarov and Pedersen leading 4-3.

The duo concluded the week by beating Hampton's Aryan Arora and Kevin Jorquera 7-5.

"He needs to know that he's amazing and can do amazing things in the sport," Bivens said about Akbarov. "I hope this award gives him the validation that he belongs on a tennis court."

The Aggies and Akbarov return to action Wednesday, April 9 in Buies Creek at Campbell starting at 1 p.m.