CHARLOTTE, NC – North Carolina A&T women's tennis earned a significant victory Thursday in their pursuit of a record-breaking season.
The Aggies improved to 7-4 overall after beating Queens University of Charlotte 7-0 at Howard Levine Tennis Center. The Aggies finished 9-8 during the 2023 season for the program's first-ever winning season. Also that season, the women's tennis program won a postseason match for the first time, beating Hampton in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Women's Championship Tournament.
A&T has four scheduled matches remaining in the 2026 season, putting the Aggies in position for another winning season. A&T set the table early against the Royals by winning two of the three doubles matches on Thursday to capture the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead.
The day started with a win at No. 3 doubles for the Aggies. Juniors
Randy Rakotoarilala and
Tabeth Tadoum teamed to defeat Mathilde Bris and Rachel Bryne 6-0. A&T claimed the doubles point thanks to the No. 2 doubles team of sophomores
Flavia Villegas and
Juana Gomez Weiss, who defeated the Royals duo of Jett Coetzee and Daniela Tomala 6-0.
Queens claimed a win at No. 1 doubles as Zoe Cvitanovic and Lucy Hogan defeated A&T sophomore
Dorsa Cheraghi and senior
Hana El Sherif 6-0. The match moved to singles play, where Villegas claimed her second win on the day by defeating Kalia Angeles in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 singles. Cheraghi recovered from her loss in doubles to win at No. 5 singles over Byrne, 6-1, 6-1.
Rakotoarilala secured a win at No. 2 singles to give the Aggies the win they needed to clinch. She defeated Cvitanovic 6-0, 6-3. The win improves Rakotoarilala to 6-4 on the season. Gomez Weiss is now an impressive 7-3 on the year after she won at No. 3 singles over Bris, 7-5, 6-3. A&T showed resilience to claim the final two wins of the afternoon.
El Sherif improved to 5-6 as the Aggies No. 1 singles player with a win over Hogan. El Sherif lost the first set 6-4 before evening things in the second with a 6-3 win. In the third set, El Sherfi gave the Aggies a 6-0 lead with a 10-6 win. Tadoum completed the shutout with a 6-2, 7-6 win thanks to a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker.
The Aggies look to extend their historic run Saturday at 1 p.m. at Winston-Salem State.
