ATHENS, Ga. – The North Carolina A&T men's tennis team traveled to Georgia to face one SEC school.
As it turns out, they played two. The Aggies were previously scheduled to play the University of Georgia. When they arrived at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, the University of Arkansas Razorbacks were also there to play the Bulldogs. Therefore, the Aggies agreed to play two. Both SEC schools defeated A&T 4-0, with neither match playing doubles competition.
Despite the two losses, junior
Kaua Santos continued his outstanding season. Both of his matches on Sunday went unfinished, but they were both competitive against top-notch competition. Against Arkansas's No. 1 singles player, Lukkas Palovic, Santos lost the first set 6-4 before taking the lead 5-4 in the second set, but the match went unfinished because the Razorbacks had already clinched the win.
Palovic has been ranked as high as 800th in the world and carried into Sunday's match a 13.02 Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), signifying an elite, high-performance tennis skill level, equivalent to a top-tier NCAA Division I college player or a high-level professional touring player. Against UGA's No. 1 player, Will Jansen, Santos lost the first 6-1 before trailing 4-1 in the second before the match got suspended.
Sophomore
Jindrich Brill also competed well against Arkansas, losing the first set 6-4 and trailing 5-3 in an unfinished match against Dmitry Koplievich at No. 2 singles. Brill suffered only his second singles loss of the season against UGA's Santiago Giamichelle, 6-4, 6-1.
In finished matches against Arkansas, freshman
Niklas Laux lost 6-0, 6-2 to Arsene Pougault at No. 3 singles. Freshman
Illia Olefir lost 6-2, 6-3 to Brendan Boland at No. 4. Senior
Mathieu Dussaubat lost 6-1, 6-1 to Connor Smillie at No. 5, and freshman
Ben Werle fell 6-1, 6-2 to Eric Pradgham.
Against UGA, Dussaubat's match at No. 6 singles was unfinished, with him losing the first set 7-5, trailing 4-0 in the second. Other results include Laux losing 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3, Olefir 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4, and freshman
Gabriel Linovic losing 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 to Salvador Price.
The Aggies dropped to 9-4 after Sunday's action and look to end their first two-match losing streak of the season when they travel to Asheville, NC, to face the UNC Asheville Bulldogs at 2 p.m.
