DURHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team will be going into the 2018 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men's Tennis Championship Tournament with some confidence after defeating visiting Hampton University, 5-2, on Sunday.
 
The Eagles secured five singles wins clinch the victory. NCCU (4-13 Overall) has won its last two matches and will enter the MEAC Tourney as the No. 4 seed from the Southern Division. The Eagles will play the top seeded team from the Northern Division in Morgan State University in the quarterfinals. The conference office will announce full pairings and match times on Monday.
 
The Pirates (3-14) also qualified for postseason play as the third seed from the North.
 
Junior No. 2 Gabriel Cucalon (6-2, 6-1), junior No. 3 Sebastian Bromley (6-3, 6-3), sophomore No. 4 Maksym Konovalov (6-3, 7-5), sophomore No. 5 Pedro Juez Torres (7-5, 6-3) and sophomore No. 6 Brooks Campbell (6-7, 6-3, 11-9) were the victors for the Eagles.
 
Cucalon, who was a First Team All-MEAC honoree last year, has won eight straight matches and finished the regular season with a team-best 11 singles wins. Konovalov's conquest came over another All-MEAC performer in junior Charles Hudson. Juez Torres and Campbell were victorious in both of NCCU's last two wins.
 
The other four NCCU singles winners on Sunday all notched their third wins in their second seasons respectively with the program.
 
Junior Matt Foster-Estwick edged sophomore Theofanis Kontopoulos in the top flight to provide the Pirates with their lone singles win. Foster-Estwick leveled his record to a team-best 7-7 with the 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win.
 
Hampton started the day by winning the double point with triumphs on courts one and three. NCCU avoided the doubles sweep with a 6-4 victory by Cucalon and Bromley. The Eagle duo finally moved over .500 to end of the regular season at 8-7 paired together after losing their first five matches.