Men's Tennis | 9/24/2025 9:42:00 PM
WILMINGTON, NC – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis program has entered three weeks of training before its next competitions. If that training leads to improvement over the previous four weeks for the Aggies heading into ITA Regionals, look out!
When the fact that a freshman won a draw at UNC Wilmington's Porter Neck Invitational at the Porter Neck Country Club over the weekend, then others should truly look for the A&T men's tennis program. Freshman Gabriel Linovic won the B Draw, joining Jindrich Brill and Kaua Santos as draw winners during the 2025 fall season.
"There were a lot of close matches that I could push through thanks to my coach's advice and the support of my teammates," said Linovic, a native of Berlin, Germany. "I'm really happy to see the results and the hard work pay off."
Linovic opened with a win over Hampton's Kohei Konishi, 6-3, 6-1, before winning over another Hampton player in Benedict Badza. Linovic defeated Badza 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the B Draw final, where he faced yet another Hampton Pirate, Trishiv Premanand. Linovic finished off the Pirate trifecta with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Brill nearly claimed his second fall title, this time in the A1 Single Draw. Brill won by default to reach before facing the University of North Carolina's (UNC) Dennis Perumov. Brill knocked off Perumov 6-4, 6-3 to reach the final. He then defeated Tennessee Tech's Murilo Burckhardt in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, and 10-8 in the tiebreaker. His only loss came to UNCW's Lucas Steffan, 6-2, 6-1.
Meanwhile, Santos, who started the party this fall by winning at Wake Forest University, had another good showing over the weekend. Santos had a thrilling three-set win over UNCW's Harry Abel, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. He also had an exciting win over Hampton's Tsihon Fedorov, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. UNCW's Brady Hussey did get the best of Santos, 6-2, 6-2.
"I played poorly in the second set, but my energy was always there, and that helped me to pull off the win in the third set," Santos said about his three-set win over Abel before discussing his win over Fedorov. Santos said he managed the match well and played solidly throughout. He also discussed his setback against Hussey.
"I lost too many chances and missed way more than the day before," he continued.
Santos also did well in doubles, teaming with Mathieu Dussaubat to defeat UNCW's Logan Trimp and UNC Asheville's Samuel Nicholson 6-2. The Santos/Dussaubat duo also beat William & Mary's Albert Porsmyr Hansen and Raz Katz 7-5. They lost to the combination of Steffan and Martin Mazev of UNCW.
Mathieu and I focused on winning our service game and played hard when we were returning their serves," Santos said. "We improved a lot since our last tournament in terms of things that we practice, and played much better because of that."
Ian Pedersen earned a win over Dung Em Oliver Dao, 6-4, 6-4. Dussaubat got a singles win over Matthew Fekete.
"Our guys competed well against top-level opponents from UNC Wilmington, UNC Chapel Hill, Tennessee Tech, William & Mary, and pro-level players," said A&T head men's tennis coach Dejon Bivens. "I'm really proud of the work these guys are putting in every day. My goal is to build a culture that emphasizes discipline, hard work, and a winning mindset, preparing players to compete at the highest level in both our conference and in an increasingly competitive professional collegiate atmosphere.
This weekend showed that the team is starting to produce results that match the effort we're demanding in practice and daily development."
The Aggies have three additional tournaments remaining before the spring season begins.
