ELON, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team completed competition at the Elon Invitational on Oct. 25-27 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The Eagles faced off against several teams in the area and beyond with senior Hugo Hidalgo Vega advancing to the final of the Singles A East draw.
Hidalgo Vega started the tournament by defeating Frederic Schlossmann of UNC Charlotte 6-0, 6-4 on Friday. He would roll in Saturday's quarterfinal and semifinal winning over Wake Forest University's Cornelius Alexander Shalmi 7-5, 6-1 and Nikola Parichkov 6-4, 6-2, respectively.
In the finals of the draw, Hidalgo Vega would have to face another Wake Forest player falling 6-4, 6-2 to Joaquin Guilleme on Sunday.
Junior Naresh Bharathy reached the semifinals of the Singles D East draw with victories on Friday and Saturday. Bharathy defeated Mark Taranov of the University of Richmond 6-2, 7-6 after a 7-3 tiebreak win. He would move on to the quarterfinals to triumph over North Carolina A&T State University's Ethan Baly 6-2, 6-3.
Juan Andres Listo of East Tennessee State University would halt Bharathy in the semifinals winning 6-2, 7-5.
Sophomore Leo Fortier-Gariepy earned two victories in the Singles E Main draw. Fortier-Gariepy defeated two familiar conference foes after playing South Carolina State University's Nithis Baalaji Latha Nallusamy (7-6, 6-4) and Norfolk State University's Luka Cvjetkovic (6-3, 6-1).
In doubles, Hidalgo Vega and sophomore Rodrigo Alves advanced to the semifinals in the Flight C East draw after coming out on top 6-2 over Norfolk State's Deniz Okyay and Jakub Solarski. The duo dropped a tight match in the semifinals 7-6 needing an 8-6 tiebreaker against Hugo Nossler and Ethan Auwera of Georgia State University.
Fortier-Gariepy and sophomore Antoni Pankowski competed in the Flight D East draw earning a quarterfinals victory 6-0 over Kaua Santos and Mathieu Dussaubat of North Carolina A&T before falling in the semis 7-6 to Campbell University's Aleksandar Hudjec and Matias Lofink in a 7-5 tiebreak.
Hidalgo Vega and Alves will represent the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at the ITA Conference Masters Championship in Rome, Ga. on Nov. 7-10 as one of 32 doubles teams. The championship determines three doubles team qualifiers for the NCAA Doubles Championship.
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