SAVANNAH, Ga. — The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team won four singles matches, including a clinching three-set battle by junior Pablo Juez Torres, to earn a 4-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Southern Division victory over Florida A&M University Saturday evening at the Bacon Park Tennis Club.
 
The Eagles made a statement in their league opener, knocking off a Rattlers program that was selected to finish second in the Southern Division based upon the conference preseason poll. NCCU was picked fourth.
 
Senior Gabriel Cucalon and freshmen Christos Dagklis and Thanos Spyropoulos all won in straight sets to start the maroon and gray rally after narrowly dropping doubles.
 
Florida A&M took the initial lead 6-3 and 7-5 doubles wins on courts two and three. Cucalon partnered with fellow senior Sebastian Bromley for NCCU's lone doubles win of 6-3 in the top flight. It was their second win of the season.
 
Dagklis coasted to a 6-2, 6-0 win and Spyropoulos followed closely at 6-1, 6-3 on courts three and four, respectively, to start the comeback.
 
After FAMU leveled the score on court five, Cucalon won the marquee showdown 7-5, 6-1 to put the Eagles ahead again at 3-2. Cucalon's sixth straight win came against Luis Espinoza.
 
Juez Torres completed the maroon and gray victory in the sixth position in the lineup. Juez Torres rallied to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 over Robert Hayden.
 
Juez Torres (3-5), Dagklis (3-7) and Spyropoulos (3-6) all have three wins on the season. Cucalon (6-3) leads the Eagles with six individual victories.
 
NC Central (2-8 Overall, 1-0 MEAC) will try and win on back-to-back days at the Bacon Park Tennis Club as the Eagles battle MEAC foe Bethune-Cookman on Sunday at Noon.