CARY, N.C. – Junior Gabriel Cucalon advanced to the third round of the ITA Carolina Regional for a second straight year and he picked up a first round doubles win with sophomore Maksym Konovalov to account for all three of the North Carolina Central University's wins at the five-day event.
 
Cucalon advanced to the round of 32 with a pair of wins in the upper half of the 128-player field at the Cary Tennis Center that included a win over the 10th-seeded player from Duke University. The Guayaquil, Ecuador, native posted his big win over Duke junior Ryan Dickerson in the second round. Dickerson, who went 15-4 in dual matches for the Blue Devils last season, fell to Cucalon in straight set scores of 6-4, 6-1.
 
Cucalon survived his opening match in a seesaw affair to Wofford College senior Parks Schoen. He gutted out a tiebreaker win in the third set to squeak out the 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4) triumph. Cucalon was eventually knocked out in the third round to North Carolina State University junior Ivan Saveljic by matching 6-4 set scores.
 
Konovalov partnered with Cucalon for an opening-round doubles triumph over UNCG sophomore Marcus Vidgren and senior Logan Walker. The NCCU duo prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-4. Konovalov and Cucalon faced the top-seeded tandem from NC State in sophomore Alexis Galarneau and junior Michael Ogden in the second round. Galarneau and Ogden, who finished last season ranked No. 39 nationally together, eliminated Konovalov and Cucalon by a 6-2, 6-1 margin.
 
A trio of sophomores also competed in singles action for the Eagles. Konovalov, Theofanis Kontopoulos and Pablo Juez Torres all lost twice in straight sets. They each drew a "Power Five" opponent in the first round with Kontopoulos bowing out to 17th-seeded freshman Yuval Solomon (6-4, 6-2) of Wake Forest University. Konovalov was eliminated by NC State freshman Morgan Lohan (6-1, 6-4) and Juez Torres was defeated by University of South Carolina junior Wood Benton (6-1, 6-2).
 
Kontopoulos and Juez Torres also represented NCCU in doubles. They were knocked off in the first round by the ninth seed in juniors Diego Quiroz and Ruy Teixeira, who advanced past the Eagles team by matching 6-3 set scores.
 
NCCU concluded competition for the fall and will begin dual match competition in January. Fans can look at the complete men's tennis schedule at NCCUEaglePride.com.