DURHAM, N.C. — Dillon Strepay was honored before Saturday's match and his teammates provided him with a win as the North Carolina Central University men's tennis team knocked off archrival North Carolina A&T State University, 5-2, in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Southern Division play.
 
The victory secured a spot for the Eagles in the 2018 MEAC Men's Tennis Championship Tournament that is scheduled for April 26-28 in Norfolk, Virginia. NCCU (3-13 Overall, 1-3 MEAC) will be the fourth seed from the South and will play the top seed from the Northern Division in the quarterfinals. The league office will announce full tourney pairings and match times at the end of the regular season.

The Aggies remained winless on the season at 0-18 overall and 0-4 in the conference.
 
Strepay, who joined the team as a walk-on in 2015-16, is a three-year letter winner for the Eagles. He has not competed in a match this season due to injury.
 
The Eagles started the day by dominating doubles. The top two tandems won by scores of 6-2 while the third duo secured a 6-3 triumph for the hosts.
 
Sophomores Theofanis Kontopoulos and Maksym Konovalov (6-6) and juniors Gabriel Cucalon and Sebastian Bromley (7-7) both leveled their doubles records at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, respectively. The other sophomore pairing of Brooks Campbell and Pablo Juez Torres (6-5) moved over .500 with their win.
 
NCCU's advantage grew to 3-nil with a couple wins atop its singles lineup. Cucalon coasted to a 6-1, 6-0 triumph on the second court over senior John Wilson IV. Kontopoulos added his own straight-set victory of 6-4, 6-2 against NCAT No. 1 sophomore Adair Bartra.
 
Cucalon and Kontopoulos lead the Eagles with matching 10-6 singles ledgers.
 
Freshman No. 3 Jorge Goenaga briefly kept NCAT's hopes alive by squeaking out a 7-5, 7-5 win over Bromley.
 
However, Juez Torres survived a couple close sets in sealing the victory for NCCU. Juez Torres topped senior Brett Caban by scores of 6-2, 7-5 for his second win of the season.
 
Sophomore No. 4 Faulkenbury won a pair of tiebreakers to secure the Aggies' second and final point. The 7-6, 7-6 win came with tight tiebreaker scores of 7-4 and 8-6.
 
Campbell put the exclamation point on the maroon and gray victory by outlasting sophomore No. 6 Jordan Lawrence in the only three-set match of the day. Campbell prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (8), 10-7 for his second win of the season.
  
NCCU will conclude its regular season by hosting Hampton University in a rescheduled match on Sunday, April 22 at 1 p.m.