DURHAM, N.C. – The North Carolina Central University men's tennis team earned its first victory of the spring on Wednesday over Hampton University, 6-1. Junior Hugo Hidalgo Vega and sophomore Kareem Abdul Hakim were victorious in both singles and doubles against the Pirates.

NCCU (1-3) took to the Dr. James W. Younge Tennis Courts for the first home match this season after not playing since Jan. 21 at Duke University. Hidalgo Vega and Abdul Hakim teamed up in No.1 doubles winning 6-2 over Donte Armbrister and Emiliano Jorquera.

Junior Oliver Saarinen and freshman Leo Fortier-Gariepy fell 7-5 to Daniel Flynn and Aryan Arora in No.2 doubles.  

Hampton (0-3) was down early due to only having five players available. Though each team won a doubles match, the Pirates didn't have a sixth player to break the tie giving the first point of the match to NCCU. This occurred for No.6 singles as well and the Eagles had a 2-0 advantage heading into singles competition.

Sophomore Naresh Bharathy outpaced his opponent 6-3, 6-0 wrapping up his singles match first. Abdul Hakim notched a pair of 6-2 sets to put the Eagles up 4-0.

Hidalgo Vega took down HU's Flynn in a 6-1, 6-4 victory in No.1 singles. Saarinen clinched the final point of the match in a 6-2, 6-1 triumph.

The only point for the Pirates came from Armbrister's 6-4, 6-1 victory over Fortier-Gariepy.

Men's tennis has a quick turnaround traveling to Buies Creek, N.C. to face Campbell University on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.

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