CARY, NC – North Carolina A&T's young men's tennis team narrowly lost 4-3 to an experienced North Carolina Central University (NCCU) squad Thursday at Cary Tennis Park.
The Aggies, who often start four freshmen, dropped to 10-9 overall. NCCU, featuring four seniors and three juniors, improved to 11-7. The Eagles won two doubles matches, clinching the point and halting the third. A&T freshman
Niklas Laux and senior
Mathieu Dussaubat faced Pol Puig Montiel and Leo Fortier at No. 3 doubles.
Montiel and Fortier came out victorious 6-2. The Eagles secured the doubles point as Antoni Pankowski and Naresh Bharathy beat freshmen
Illia Olefir and
Ben Werle 6-3. The No. 1 doubles match—A&T's
Kaua Santos and
Jindrich Brill versus Rodrigo Alves and Kareem Abdul Hakim—was unfinished with A&T leading 5-4.
Hakim gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead when he defeated Werle at No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-0. NCCU picked up another win at No. 4 singles when Santiago Pinna won in straight sets over freshman
Gabriel Linovic, 6-3, 6-3. The Aggies did get on the board, cutting the Eagles lead to 3-1, when Olefir earned his ninth singles win during his freshman season by defeating Fortier in three sets, 7-5, 0-6, 6-2.
NCCU clinched the win in a thrilling three-setter between Dussuabat and Pankowski. Dussuabat looked sharp in the first set, winning 6-3. Dussuabat had Pankowski on the ropes in the second set before Pankowski narrowly escaped with a 7-6 win, 7-5 in the tiebreaker. Pankowski took the third set 6-2, guaranteeing NCCU the victory.
Despite the clincher, the two teams completed all the singles matches. The Aggies were victorious in both. Santos took down Alves 6-3, 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreaker) at No. 2 singles. Santos played at No. 2 singles for the fourth time this season, improving to 3-1. Santos is 12-3 overall with nine of those wins coming at No. 1 singles.
Brill manned the No. 1 singles on Thursday, winning in three sets over Bharathy. Brill lost the first set 6-4, but looked strong over the final two sets, winning 6-3, 6-4. Brill improved to 2-2 at the No. 1 singles position and 12-5 overall.
A&T is scheduled to finish its regular season over the weekend, starting with a Friday match at Campbell in Buies Creek, NC. The first serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Nesbit Tennis Center. The regular season concludes with a 2 p.m. match at North Carolina Wesleyan on Saturday at the Slick Family Foundation Tennis Center.
