Men's Tennis | 4/20/2025 10:56:00 PM
NORFOLK, Va. – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis team participated in the Norfolk State University Nat Warren Invitational over the weekend at the NSU Tennis Center.
It was a draw-play tournament. A&T sophomore Said Akbarov entered as the top seed for A&T and the No. 2 seed overall for the tournament. After a first-round bye on Saturday, Akbarov defeated R. Shah 6-4, 6-3 to advance. Akbarov lost in the quarterfinals to NSU's Vladisav Gorbatenko 4-6, 6-4, 3-0.
Senior Ian Pedersen came into the weekend as the No. 3 seed. After his first-round bye, he faced Alan Yim and won 6-2, 6-4. Pedersen lost in the next round to R. Shankar 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 in the tiebreaker. The fifth seed for the tournament was A&T freshman Jindrich Brill.
Brill also earned a first-round bye before beating N. Madero 6-0, 6-3. Brill lost in the next round to NSU's Deniz Okyay 6-3, 7-5. Sophomore Kaua Santos also participated this weekend. He defeated A. Akkina 6-0, 6-0. He lost his next-round matchup to NSU's Jakub Solarski 6-2, 6-1. The Aggies hope to earn a tournament berth to the 2025 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Men's Championship Tournament, April 24-27 at Elon's Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
