Box ScoreDURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University won its top four singles matches to help overcome losing doubles and earn a 5-2 win its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener against archrival North Carolina A&T State University on Friday afternoon at the NCCU Tennis Courts.
The win also marked the first victory for new head coach
Tom Schrecengost at (1-5 Overall, 1-0 MEAC).
"I know in my short time here that A&T is obviously a big rival so it is nice to start off on the right foot and get a win in conference play," said Schrecengost. "We are pleased with the effort and, hopefully, that carries over and gives us enough confidence for the rest of the weekend."
N.C. A&T (1-6, 0-1) won doubles but the Lady Eagles knew they just needed to win three of five singles matches because the Aggies forfeited the final singles match with only five players.
Sophomore
Jamie Rogers quickly put the momentum on NCCU's side of the court with a dominating 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 4 singles. Senior
Mia Ramic then pulled the Lady Eagles within one point of victory with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 triumph on court three. Senior
Aissa Muamba clinched the team win in the top spot of the lineup, with a 6-3, 6-0 rout. Freshman
Jasmine Gabriel then rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 10-2 conquest for NCCU's fifth point.
Schrecengost added, "At the end of doubles we were disappointed we didn't get those wins. They (N.C. A&T) played pretty good doubles and we only played well in stretches so I thought it wasn't enough to win them. We talked about how they threw the first punch so to speak and I told them it was not going to be easy in conference play and talked about the ability to fight back. That is basically what they did. They came out, didn't panic, fought back and did what they needed to do to get the win so we are pleased."
Muamba (2-3), Gabriel (2-3) and Rogers (2-4) all won for the second time this season while Ramic (1-5) got in the win column for the first time.
Junior
Lynsey Cover won her first set at No. 5 singles but eventually lost the longest match of the day to sophomore Nadia Hilton-Adams by a wild 3-6, 7-6 (1), 12-10 score.
Cover and Ramic were up early in their doubles match before the Aggies rallied for the 7-5 middle doubles win. Muamba and Rogers trailed 5-2 but won the next three games and eventually forced a tiebreaker. However, N.C. A&T took the tiebreaker to clinch the doubles team point with the 7-6 (5) victory.
NCCU steps back out of conference play at Elon University on Saturday at 2 p.m.
