GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis team lost a competitive matchup against rival North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on Saturday 5-2 at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
Before the Aggies faced the Eagles, they honored their two seniors – Ethan Baly and Ian Pedersen. Baly came to A&T as a Dowdy Scholarship recipient and helped resurrect the men's tennis program. Meanwhile, Pedersen emerged from the shadows of all-time greats and former teammates Vasil Ivanov and Esteban Lopez to carve out his own legacy at A&T.
Pedersen won on Saturday at No. 3 singles, defeating Rodrigo Alves in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Pedersen improved to 12-6 during the 2025 season. Saturday marked the first time he has played at No. 3 singles this season. It also marked his 49th singles win, putting him one win shy of joining Lopez as Aggies with 50 or more wins.
Meanwhile, Baly nearly pulled out a win in his final home match in an Aggies uniform. Baly took Leo Fortier to three sets before falling 6-7, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles. Baly dropped to 0-2 this season and has his collegiate career inches closer to the end; Baly has 16 career singles wins. Both men also participated in doubles.
Pedersen joined sophomore Said Akbarov at No. 1 doubles, losing 6-4 to Hugo Hidalgo and Alves. Baly teamed with sophomore Kaua Santos and lost at No. 3 doubles to Antoni Pankowski and Fortier 7-5. Those two wins gave the Eagles the doubles point. NCCU completed the sweep with Kareem Abdul Hakim and Oliver Saarinen defeating freshman Jindrich Brill and sophomore Lucas Coupo-Moison 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.
A&T's other win came from its future as Brill defeated Naresh Bharathy 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 at No. 4 singles to improve to 14-3 this season. Brill is 4-0 at No. 4 singles. The other three-setter came at No. 1 singles when Hidalgo defeated Coupo-Moison 6-4, 6-7, 1-0. Sophomore Said Akbarov lost only his third match of the season, dropping to 15-3, after losing to Abdul Hakim, 6-2, 7-5.
At No. 5 singles, Santos lost to Pankowski 6-2, 7-5. A&T dropped to 13-6 this season while the Eagles moved to 12-5. A&T will play in Rocky Mount, NC, on Tuesday, April 15, at 6 p.m. against North Carolina Wesleyan before wrapping up the season at Norfolk State University's Nat Warren Invitational, April 19-20, at the NSU Tennis Courts.
