CARY, N.C. – Senior
Sebastian Pino collected singles and doubles wins for host North Carolina Central University in a 5-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's tennis loss to Howard University on day one of the 2022 MEAC Round-Up at the Cary Tennis Center.
Pino won a pair of tiebreakers to secure his singles win and partnered with freshman
Oliver Saarinen for his doubles triumph.
The senior duo of
Miles Clark and
Amit Baran also won in doubles competition as the Eagles took the initial team lead.
However, the Bison won five singles matches to rally for the victory. Howard improved to 2-4 on the season and 1-0 in MEAC play while NCCU dipped to 2-9 and 0-1.
Pino secured his singles win on court two, topping freshman Tory Bailey by matching 7-6 set scores after winning the first-set tiebreaker 7-2 and the second-set tiebreaker 8-6. Pino has three singles wins on the season.
In a showdown of two All-MEAC Team honorees from last season playing at No. 1 singles, Howard sophomore Justin Cadeau outlasted Clark in a three-set affair, rallying to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
One other singles match went three sets, with freshman Daniel Dunac edging freshman
Oliver Saarinen in a seesaw battle that finished 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Baran and Clark won their together, 7-5, to clinch the doubles point, which also marked their third straight victory together. Pino and Saarinen have a team-best four doubles wins as partners.
NC Central will continue play in the MEAC Round-Up with a morning match against Coppin State on Friday. The two Eagle programs will start play at the Cary Tennis Center at 9 a.m.
