Box ScoreDURHAM, N.C. – Freshman
Gabriel Cucalon nearly provided the North Carolina Central University men's tennis team with a point but he eventually lost in a third-set tiebreaker as visiting Charlotte spoiled the Eagles home opener, 7-0, on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the NCCU Tennis Courts.
The 49ers improved to 3-1 overall and the Eagles slipped to 0-4.
Cucalon rallied throughout his No. 2 singles match but eventually lost the final match of the day to senior
Jordi Massallé Ferrer. Cucalon lost the first set before fighting back and winning the second set. The rookie then trailed 5-4 in the third set before once again responding to force the tiebreaker. Ferrer jumped out in the race to seven points by winning the first three serves but Cucalon kept grinding and was able to level the tiebreaker at both 3-3 and 4-4. However, the more experienced Ferrer – an All-Conference USA First Team singles player last season – won the next three points to squeak out the win.
Cucalon had his singles record dipped back to .500 at 2-2 with the 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4) loss.
Charlotte senior Vikram Hundal and freshman Alejandro Garcia Moreno won their No. 1 and No. 3 singles matches, respectively, over sophomore
Kert Kilumets and freshman
Davide Callegari to both improve to 3-1 on the season.
A pair of freshmen in Sam Rice and Oriol Puig Forne completed the singles shutout for the 49ers with two more straight-set triumphs.
The visitors took both doubles matches by scores of 6-4 and 6-3 to win the first team point.
The Eagles forfeited No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles with only five players.
NCCU will next play at No. 1 nationally ranked North Carolina on Monday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill with the match beginning at 7 p.m.
