BELMONT, NC – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis team recovered from its midweek loss to Norfolk State to earn a hard-fought 4-3 win over Belmont-Abbey at the Reidy Tennis Center on Friday evening. The Aggies improved to 9-2 on the season while the Crusaders dropped to 8-9.
Earlier in the season, A&T defeated the Crusaders 7-0 at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center on February 6. On Friday, however, the Aggies faced a tougher battle. Still, they managed to take the doubles point, starting with a win at No. 1 doubles as junior
Kaua Santos and sophomore
Jindrich Brill defeated Nicholas Rizzo and Brody Sawyer 6-2. That was followed by a doubles win from freshman
Niklas Laux and senior
Mathieu Dussaubat at No. 2 doubles.
Laux and Dussaubat overcame Joel Lamotte and Gianna Russo 6-4. Meanwhile, freshmen
Ben Werle and
Illia Olefir had their No. 3 doubles match against Samuel McGregor and Joshua Mayhew end in a 4-4 tie after the Aggies had already clinched the doubles point with victories at No. 1 and No. 2.
Singles play continued the momentum. Santos gave A&T a 2-0 advantage by moving to 8-1 as the Aggies No. 1 singles player with a win over Lamotte 6-3, 6-2. He had previously defeated Ryan Nguyen at No. 1 singles in the earlier match against Belmont Abbey. Lucas Trigo then got the Crusaders on the board with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Werle, who did not play singles in the first matchup. Dussaubat extended the Aggies' lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 5 singles.
Dussaubat's win improved him to 7-1 on the season and 34-15 for his career. In the following singles match, Brill, who endured his first loss of the season on Wednesday, recovered to beat Rizzo 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, improving to 10-1 in the 2026 season. Brill's win clinched the match for the Aggies, but the Crusaders continued to battle. Nguyen, moving from No. 1 to No. 3 in the rematch, secured a 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 (tiebreak) win over Olefir.
Sawyer, who had lost to Brill at No. 2 singles in February, moved to No. 4 singles for Friday's match and defeated Laux 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 in the tiebreaker.
The Aggies have a series of tough matches ahead, starting with a trip to Athens, Ga., to face the University of Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday, March 15, at 5 p.m. They head to Asheville to face the UNC Asheville Bulldogs on Thursday, March 19, at 2 p.m. before facing N.C. State on Sunday, March 22, at 4:30 p.m.
