Box ScoreDURHAM, N.C. – Sophomore
Kert Kilumets and freshmen
Gabriel Cucalon and
Davide Callegari all won in singles action to lift the North Carolina Central University men's tennis team to a narrow 4-3 win over fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe Howard University on Sunday afternoon at the NCCU Tennis Courts.
The Eagles garnered their first win of the season to improve to 1-7 overall. The Bison remained winless on the campaign at 0-10.
With only five active players, NCCU won the key doubles point to start the match that cost them the loss in a 4-3 setback to North Carolina A&T State University two days earlier.
Kilumeets partnered with senior
Thomas Persico for a 6-2 win in the second draw and then the freshmen duo of Cucalon and Callegari clinched the team doubles point with a 6-3 win in the top draw. Cucalon and Callegari trailed 3-2 before rattling off the next four games to win their third straight match and improve to 3-4 as a team.
Cucalon put the Eagles ahead, 2-1, after NCCU forfeited the sixth singles match with a win on court two. Cucalon (5-3) won in straight sets by matching 6-3 scores for his team-high fifth singles conquest.
Howard tied the match briefly at 2-all with a fourth court win by junior Laguna Foster Jr., but Callegari won in the third spot in the lineup to put NCCU ahead for a third time. Callegari (3-5) needed one more game than Cucalon to win by a 6-4, 6-3 margin.
Kilumets knocked off 2015 All-MEAC Second Team selection junior Ismael Kaouache in the marquee singles match minutes after Callegari's win to complete the NCCU victory. Kilumets (3-5) needed three sets to dispose of Kaouache by a score of 6-0, 1-6, 6-3.
NCCU returns to action against MEAC Southern Division rival Florida A&M University in Tallahassee on Sunday, March 13 at 1 p.m.
