2015 HBCU National Tennis Championships Final Results

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team did an outstanding job defending its title at the 2015 HBCU National Championships with only four players by placing second overall at the weekend event hosted by the Southeast Metro Athletic Council at the South Fulton Tennis Center.
 
Freshman Gabriel Cucalon made a great debut for NCCU, winning the B singles flight and advancing to the finals of the B doubles flight with senior partner Tamina Kienka. Other top results for the Eagles featured senior Thomas Persico advancing to the championship match of the C singles flight and Kienka making a run to the finals of the C singles consolation bracket.
 
NCCU finished second place behind Xavier University of Louisiana as the Rush won four of the eight men's brackets. The Eagles held off Florida A&M University and Shaw University, who tied for third place, for the runner-up title.
 
"I am extremely pleased with the team's performance especially freshmen Gabriel Cucalon and seniors Thomas Persico and Tamina Kienka," said NCCU veteran head coach D. Curtis Lawson. "As defending team champion there were apprehensions about just how well we would fare only having four of our players the competing in the tournament. I explained to our players, just play your best and everything else will take care of itself. More specifically if they each advance to the finals or win their respective divisions then we will be in contention for capturing another national championship. My theory about quantity versus quality was not far off the mark, as the first and third place teams both had six or more players competing in the tournament and yet NCCU's four horsemen played like warriors and were able to bring home a second place team finish and individual trophies to boot."
 
Sophomore Kert Kilumets was the Eagles fourth entrant and he was the top seed in the A singles flight after winning that title a year ago in helping NCCU secure the team championship last season. Kilumets picked up a win in his first match against Bluefield State University but he was ousted in the quarterfinals by Xavier's Karan Salwan, who went on to win the marquee division.
 
Cucalon's title run in the B flight included three consecutive straight-set victories before rallying for a three-set win in the championship match over the No. 1 seed from Florida A&M. Cucalon also defeated the second seed from Bethune-Cookman in the semifinals.
 
Persico made immediate noise in the C flight knocking off the brackets top seed from Bethune-Cookman in his first match. Persico added three more straight-set triumphs to advance to the finals, where he had to withdraw to Bluefield State's Platon Gud in the second set due to injury.
 
Gud started his victorious run at the C flight championship by knocking off Kienka in the first round. Kienka bounced back in the consolation bracket with a trio of 8-3 superset triumphs. Kienka fell in the finals of the consolation bracket, but his three-win rally helped NCCU earn more valuable team points.
 
All four Eagles competed in the B doubles flight. Cucalon and Kienka advanced all the way to the finals with three straight wins. Cucalon and Kienka lost in the championship match, 8-6, to the top seeds from Xavier but their run did include a quarterfinals conquest of the third seeded duo from Bethune-Cookman.
 
Kilumets and Persico were paired together and suffered an 8-2 loss in their first doubles match.
 
NCCU men's tennis returns to action at the Elon Fall Invitational on the weekend of Oct. 2-4.
 
NCCU Match-by-Match Results
 
Men's Singles A Flight
 
FIRST ROUND: #1 Kert Kilumets NCCU) advanced with a bye
SECOND ROUND: #1 Kilumets (NCCU) def. #17 Aziz Yuldashev (Bluefield State) 6-2, 6-4
QUARTERFINALS: #9 Karan Salwan (Xavier) def. #1 Kilumets (NCCU) 6-2, 6-3
 
Men's Singles B Flight
 
FIRST ROUND: #3 Gabriel Cucalon (NCCU) advanced with a bye
SECOND ROUND: #3 Cucalon (NCCU) def. #19 Fedor Shirin (Hampton) 6-3, 6-2
QUARTERFINALS: #3 Cucalon (NCCU) def.  #22 Bach Tran (Shaw) 6-1, 6-0
SEMIFINALS: #3 Cucalon (NCCU) def. #2 Alvaro Barrero (Bethune-Cookman) 6-3, 7-6
FINALS: #3 Cucalon (NCCU) def. #1 Courage Okungbowa (Florida A&M) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
 
Men's Singles C Flight
 
FIRST ROUND: #17 Thomas Persico (NCCU) def. #16 Anthony Acholonu (Hampton) 6-4, 6-2
SECOND ROUND: #17 Persico (NCCU) def. #1 Pablo Lopez (Bethune-Cookman) 6-0, 6-2
QUARTERFINALS: #17 Persico (NCCU) def. #9 Jason Ulacio (Florida A&M) 6-1, 6-2
SEMIFINALS: #17 Persico (NCCU) def. #20 Grant Maddox (Tennessee State) 6-2, 6-3
FINALS: #7 Platon Gud (Bluefield State) def. #17 Persico (NCCU) 6-2, 3-1 (inj.)
 
FIRST ROUND: #7 Platon Gud (Bluefield State) def. #26 Tamina Kienka (NCCU) 6-0, 6-2
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND: Kienka (NCCU) def. Larry Pye (Florida A&M) 8-3
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS: Kienka (NCCU) def. Spencer Kelly (Howard) 8-3
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS: Kienka (NCCU) def. Justin Hall (Bethune-Cookman) 8-3
CONSOLATION FINALS: Hema Hasona (Florida A&M) def. Kienka (NCCU) 8-4
 
Men's Doubles B Flight
 
FIRST ROUND: #6 Gabriel Cucalon/Tamina Kienka (NCCU) advanced with a bye
SECOND ROUND: #6 Cucalon/Kienka (NCCU) def. #11 Diego Choque/Javier Saez (Shaw) 8-2
QUARTERFINALS: #6 Cucalon/Kienka (NCCU) def. #3 Alvaro Barrero/Pablo Lopez (Bethune-Cookman (8-6)
SEMIFINALS: #6 Cucalon/Kienka (NCCU) def. #10 Charles Hudson/Miguel Suarez (Hampton (8-7)
FINALS: #1 Adam Albrecht/Manav Chakma (Xavier) def. #6 Cucalon/Kienka (NCCU) 8-6
 
FIRST ROUND: #4 Kert Kilumets/Thomas Persico (NCCU) advanced with a bye
SECOND ROUND: #13 Greg Almeida/Kevin Deligny (Bethune-Cookman) def. #4 Kilumets/Persico (NCCU) 8-2