CARY, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team completed competition at the ITA Men's Regional Championships hosted by Duke University on Oct. 10-15. Schools from all over North and South Carolina met up at the Cary Tennis Park for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Sophomore Kareem Abdul Hakim was the first Eagle on the court to begin the tournament in the Singles Qualifying Draw on Thursday, Oct. 10. He faced off against Emiliano Gonzalez of Coastal Carolina University and won in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.

Abdul Hakim advanced to play Cornelius Alexander Shalmi of Wake Forest University but fell 6-2, 6-4. His performance would give him an extra match in the Consolation Draw where he won 7-6, 6-2 over Robbie Young of Wofford College.

Senior Hugo Hidalgo Vega opened the Main Draw dropping two straight sets of 6-2. Hidalgo Vega's opponent was Jelani Sarr of the University of South Carolina. He would play a match in the Consolation Draw as well but was defeated in an 11-9 tiebreaker after winning the first set 6-3 and losing the second 6-7 versus Nicholas Mangiapane of UNC Chapel Hill.

Doubles play began on Friday, Oct. 11. Abdul Hakim and senior Oliver Saarinen were defeated by Logan Zapp and Anthony Wright of UNC Chapel Hill, 8-4. Later in the evening Hidalgo Vega and sophomore Rodrigo Alves would fall with the same score to UNC Wilmington's Joseph Wayand and Alex Degabriele.

The Eagles return to the courts on Oct. 25-27 for the Elon Invitational at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

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