NORFOLK, Va. — Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year senior Gabriel Cucalon ended his historic collegiate career with a singles win to account for the lone North Carolina Central University point in a 4-1 semifinals loss to Morgan State University at the 2019 MEAC Men's Tennis Championships Friday afternoon at the Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center.
 
The Eagles, who were the second seed from the Southern Division, finish their year under MEAC Coach of the Year D. Curtis Lawson with a 5-13 overall record. NCCU returned to the league semifinals for the first time since 2015.
 
Morgan State (13-7) advances to the MEAC championship match on Saturday at Noon. The Bears are the top seed from the Northern Division.
 
Cucalon rolled to his 6-0, 6-2 win atop NCCU's lineup, defeating senior Arjun Ramakrishnan. The triumph gives Cucalon 46 career singles wins in dual matches, which is an NCAA Division I program record. The Ecuadorian finished his final season representing the maroon and gray with an 11-4 singles mark.
 
Cucalon and doubles partner junior Sebastian Bromley were also leading their doubles match, 3-2, when play was stopped after Morgan State won the first team point.
 
The Bears had to battle to get that initial tally. Junior Nihit Rawal and sophomore Oguzhan Ceylan – a pair of 2019 All-MEAC honorees – had to rally from a 5-4 deficit to win their doubles match over the NCCU freshmen duo of Christos Dagklis and Thanos Spyropoulos. Rawal/Ceylan won the next three games to win 7-5 and improve to 9-1 on the season together. Ramakrishan and sophomore Serhii Kharchez also won by just two games, 6-4, in their win triumph over junior Pablo Juez Torres and freshman Amit Baran.
 
A trio of straight-set wins completed the victory for Morgan State. Kharchez held off Baran (6-4, 6-2) at the second position in the lineup; Rawal topped Dagklis (6-0, 6-4) on the third court; and Ceylan prevailed over Spyropoulos (6-1, 6-3) from the fourth slot.