BUIES CREEK, NC – If there were a most improved player award in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), North Carolina A&T junior
Kaua Santos would be a leading candidate.
A&T men's tennis lost 5-2 to CAA opponent Campbell on Friday at Nesbit Tennis Center. Despite the Aggies' fifth straight defeat, dropping them to 10-10, Santos continued his strong season with another singles win. Campbell improved to 9-11.
Santos went 12-8 last season, mainly as the Aggies No. 3 singles player. After his win on Friday, Santos improved to 13-3 with most of his matches coming at No. 1 singles. In his last two matches, Santos has played No. 2 singles, improving to 4-1 there. Santos did not finish his No. 1 doubles match with his season-long partner, sophomore
Jindrich Brill.
Their doubles match against Alex Fragasso and Max Hamon was stopped when Campbell clinched the doubles point. Campbell's No. 3 team, Mikolaj Kowal and Ethan Richardson, beat freshmen
Ben Werle and
Illia Olefir 6-0, and Thomas Drapeau and Aleksander Hudjec defeated senior
Mathieu Dussaubat and freshman
Niklas Laux 6-4 at No. 2. The match then moved to singles, with Brill at No. 1.
Brill lost to Drapeau, 6-3, 6-4, playing No. 1 singles for the fifth time this season, moving to 2-3, and 12-6 overall. The Aggies fell behind 3-0 after Hamon beat freshman
Gabriel Linovic 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3. A&T broke through at No. 6 singles.
Olefir got his 10th win during his freshman season, beating Arush Gupta 7-5, 6-4. Laux almost secured another win for the A&T freshman class. He won his first set at No. 3 singles 6-4 over Hudjec. Hudjec recovered to win the second set 6-3 before closing out the third set 6-0 to give the Camels the clinching win at 4-1. Santos then stepped into the picture to give the Aggies another victory. Santos's strong season continued, winning over Fragasso in three sets. He took the first set 7-5, dropped the second 6-4, then closed with a 6-3 win. Dussaubat also battled, winning his first set 6-3 before Lofink took the next two, 6-4, 6-4.
The Aggies are now 1-1 against CAA opponents after an earlier win over Hampton. A&T's regular season ends Saturday at North Carolina Wesleyan, with the match at 2 p.m. at the Slick Family Foundation Tennis Center in Rocky Mount, NC.
