NORFOLK, Va. — Freshmen Christos Dagklis and Thanos Spyropoulos tallied a doubles win and then they each won in singles to help guide North Carolina Central University to a 4-0 quarterfinals win over Howard University at the 2019 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men's Tennis Championships Thursday afternoon at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
 
NCCU is the No. 2 seed from the Southern Division and the Eagles improved to 5-12 on the season with their first win in the league tournament since 2015. NC Central will next play Morgan State University – the top seed from the Northern Division – in the semifinals on Friday at Noon.
 
The Eagles secured victories in the first two completed doubles matches to start the day with the 1-nil advantage. Spyropoulos and Dagklis coasted to a 6-1 triumph while junior Pablo Juez Torres and freshman Amit Baran clinched the first team point with a 6-3 win.
 
Spyropoulos/Dagklis notched their fifth win together and Juez Torres/Baran now have four wins.
 
Senior Sebastian Bromley started off NCCU's singles sweep with a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win over sophomore No. 5 DeVaughn Blackburn.
 
Dagklis and Spyropoulos followed in close order, only dropping three games apiece in their wins to finish off the team victory. Dagklis posted a 6-2, 6-1 conquest of senior No. 3 Karim Shokeir and Spyropoulos rolled to a 6-0, 6-3 triumph over sophomore No. 4 Kyle Martin.
 
MEAC Player of the Year senior No. 1 Gabriel Cucalon won his first set before play was completed. Juez Torres was in a three-set battle at No. 6 when play was stopped and Baran lost his first set, but was leading the second set at the time the Eagles advanced to the semifinals.
 
The third-seeded Bison from the Northern Division finished their season at 1-13.