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| COURTESY: NCCU EAGLES ATHLETICS |
ORLANDO, Florida -- For the second time in his collegiate career senior Gabriel Cucalon produced a winning performance at the HBCU National Tennis Championships to pace the North Carolina Central University men's tennis team to a third place finish out of 10 teams over the weekend.
Cucalon, a three-time team MVP, has now won the A singles flight in NCCU's marquee fall event in 2016 and 2018.
The Eagles scored 17 points to place third overall in the 19th edition of the HBCU National Tennis Championships, with the site of the three-day tournament moved to the USTA National Campus in 2018. Fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe Bethune-Cookman University won the team title with 25 points and Xavier University of Louisiana took second with 20 points. NCCU finished ahead of seven teams, including MEAC rivals Morgan State University, Florida A&M University and archrival North Carolina A&T State University.
Cucalon was the top-seeded player in the top draw. He started his championship run with a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinals win over Xavier freshman Santiago Perez. In the semifinals, Cucalon topped Bethune-Cookman senior No. 4 seeded Jose Plazas by matching 6-2 scores. The Ecuadorian finished off his flawless play against the second-seeded player in Jackson State University's Andrey Alawi. Cucalon had little trouble defeating Alawi, a former First Team All-SWAC honoree, by a score of 6-1, 6-2.
A pair of Greek freshman provided NCCU with several points during the competition (a team received one team point for every singles or doubles win in any bracket of the event).
Christos Dagklis won his collegiate debut match with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Shaw University junior Diego Nino. Dagklis lost in the quarters to Xavier junior No. 3 seeded Samir Chikhaoui (6-4, 6-4).
Thanos Spyropoulos lost a three-set match in his opener to Morgan State sophomore Oguzhan Ceylan (6-3, 4-6, 10-8), but bounced back with a pair of consolation wins against opponents from Shaw (8-2) and Jackson State University (8-5) before bowing out due to injury.
Dagklis and Spyropoulos also partnered in B Flight doubles and won three times to earn a spot into the championship match. The rookie duo produced wins against Shaw (6-0), Jackson State (6-1) and Xavier (7-6 [6]), before falling in the finals to a Bethune-Cookman duo in another tiebreaker (7-6 [5]).
The maroon and gray got four total doubles wins as Cucalon partnered with freshman Amit Baran for a 7-6 [5] debut win over a tandem from North Carolina A&T before getting knocked off in the semifinals by Morgan State (6-4).
Senior Sebastian Bromley and junior Pablo Juez Torres both advanced to the quarterfinals of the C Singles flight for the Eagles. Bromley got in the win column with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Bethune-Cookman senior Juan Navarro. Juez Torres earned his victory on the other side of the bracket with a 6-3, 6-4 win against North Carolina A&T junior Jordan Lawrence. Juez Torres lost his semifinals contest to eventual flight champion Morgan State sophomore Serhii Kharchev (6-2, 6-4) while Bromley was eliminated by senior Juan Navarro (6-3, 7-6 [8]).
NCCU next competes in the Dr. Robert Walter Johnson Memorial Tennis Championships hosted by Virginia State University on Friday-Sunday, Sept. 28-30.
Cucalon, a three-time team MVP, has now won the A singles flight in NCCU's marquee fall event in 2016 and 2018.
The Eagles scored 17 points to place third overall in the 19th edition of the HBCU National Tennis Championships, with the site of the three-day tournament moved to the USTA National Campus in 2018. Fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe Bethune-Cookman University won the team title with 25 points and Xavier University of Louisiana took second with 20 points. NCCU finished ahead of seven teams, including MEAC rivals Morgan State University, Florida A&M University and archrival North Carolina A&T State University.
Cucalon was the top-seeded player in the top draw. He started his championship run with a 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinals win over Xavier freshman Santiago Perez. In the semifinals, Cucalon topped Bethune-Cookman senior No. 4 seeded Jose Plazas by matching 6-2 scores. The Ecuadorian finished off his flawless play against the second-seeded player in Jackson State University's Andrey Alawi. Cucalon had little trouble defeating Alawi, a former First Team All-SWAC honoree, by a score of 6-1, 6-2.
A pair of Greek freshman provided NCCU with several points during the competition (a team received one team point for every singles or doubles win in any bracket of the event).
Christos Dagklis won his collegiate debut match with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph over Shaw University junior Diego Nino. Dagklis lost in the quarters to Xavier junior No. 3 seeded Samir Chikhaoui (6-4, 6-4).
Thanos Spyropoulos lost a three-set match in his opener to Morgan State sophomore Oguzhan Ceylan (6-3, 4-6, 10-8), but bounced back with a pair of consolation wins against opponents from Shaw (8-2) and Jackson State University (8-5) before bowing out due to injury.
Dagklis and Spyropoulos also partnered in B Flight doubles and won three times to earn a spot into the championship match. The rookie duo produced wins against Shaw (6-0), Jackson State (6-1) and Xavier (7-6 [6]), before falling in the finals to a Bethune-Cookman duo in another tiebreaker (7-6 [5]).
The maroon and gray got four total doubles wins as Cucalon partnered with freshman Amit Baran for a 7-6 [5] debut win over a tandem from North Carolina A&T before getting knocked off in the semifinals by Morgan State (6-4).
Senior Sebastian Bromley and junior Pablo Juez Torres both advanced to the quarterfinals of the C Singles flight for the Eagles. Bromley got in the win column with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Bethune-Cookman senior Juan Navarro. Juez Torres earned his victory on the other side of the bracket with a 6-3, 6-4 win against North Carolina A&T junior Jordan Lawrence. Juez Torres lost his semifinals contest to eventual flight champion Morgan State sophomore Serhii Kharchev (6-2, 6-4) while Bromley was eliminated by senior Juan Navarro (6-3, 7-6 [8]).
NCCU next competes in the Dr. Robert Walter Johnson Memorial Tennis Championships hosted by Virginia State University on Friday-Sunday, Sept. 28-30.
NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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