Saarinen & Abdul Hakim
MEAC
0
N.C. Central NCCU-MT
4
Winner UNC Chapel Hill UNC
N.C. Central NCCU-MT
0
Final
4
UNC Chapel Hill UNC
Winner

Match Recap: Men's Tennis |

Doubles Duo Abdul Hakim and Saarinen Shine in NCCU’s Loss at UNC

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – On Tuesday evening, the North Carolina Central University men's tennis team dropped a 4-0 match to the University of North Carolina at the Chewning Tennis Center. Senior Oliver Saarinen and junior Kareem Abdul Hakim paired up to win No.2 doubles, 6-4.

NCCU (1-3) went into singles competition down 1-0 after the Tar Heels took the doubles point winning the No.1 and No.3 slots.

Three of the six singles matches were against nationally ranked players. Junior Rodrigo Alves' match ended first versus No.80 Chris Xu with Alves falling 6-1, 6-2 in No.3 singles. Abdul Hakim followed with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat from Constantinos Djakouris in the No.2 slot.

Senior Hugo Hidalgo Vega retired from his No.1 singles match in the third set against 112th-ranked Vladislav Melnic. Hidalgo Vega won the second set 6-1.

The final three matches went unfinished as the two teams played to clinch. Junior Naresh Bharathy (No.4 Singles) played 68th-ranked Anthony Wright pushing his opponent to a tiebreaker in the second set, which Bharathy was up 4-0 before the match was clinched.

Saarinen took his first set in No.6 singles and sophomore Antoni Pankowski (No.5) was up 5-4 in his second set before the match went unfinished.

The Eagles will face Belmont Abbey and Davidson in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Davidson. The first NC Central match begins at 12:30 p.m.

UNC 4, North Carolina Central 0

Match Results

Doubles

  1. Vladislav Melnic/Xu (UNC) def. Hidalgo Vega/Alves (NCCU), 6-3
  2. Abdul Hakim/Saarinen (NCCU) def. Diego Jarry/Anthony Wright (UNC), 6-4
  3. Constantinos Djakouris/Nick Mangiapane (UNC) def. Pankowski/Fortier-Gariepy (NCCU), 7-6 (7-5)

(Order of finish: 1, 2, 3)

Singles

  1. #112 Vladislav Melnic (UNC) vs. Hugo Hidalgo Vega (NCCU), 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (retired)
  2. Constantinos Djakouris (UNC) def. Kareem Abdul Hakim (NCCU), 6-4, 6-1
  3. #80 Chris Xu (UNC) def. Rodrigo Alves (NCCU), 6-1, 6-2
  4. #68 Anthony Wright (UNC) vs. Naresh Bharathy (NCCU), 6-1, 6-6 (0-4 tiebreak) (unfinished)
  5. Nick Mangiapane (UNC) vs. Antoni Pankowski (NCCU), 6-4, 4-5 (unfinished)
  6. Diego Jarry (UNC) vs. Oliver Saarinen (NCCU), 4-6, 6-0, 1-0 (unfinished)

(Order of finish: 3, 2, 1)

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