CARY, N.C. – The North Carolina Central men's tennis team ended the MEAC Championships as the runner-up on Saturday afternoon, falling 4-0 to one-seeded South Carolina State at the Cary Tennis Park.

The Eagles and Bulldogs squared off in the third consecutive edition of the MEAC Championship final, with SCSU winning the previous two. NCCU would have to start singles at a 1-0 disadvantage after dropping the doubles point.

The first singles match to conclude was between the No.1s as senior Hugo Hidalgo Vega was defeated by Mikalai Bankou 6-1, 6-2.

Within minutes of each other, the next two decisions would come in the No.5 and 3 positions. Antoni Pankowski fell in 6-2, 6-4 sets as SCSU's Iliyas Maratuly took the victory.

The final point came from South Carolina State's Aissa Benchakroun as Rodrigo Alves came up short in 6-4, 6-2 sets.

Naresh Bharathy, Kareem Abdul Hakim and Leo Fortier-Gariepy's matches went unfinished as the latter two Eagles were up in their second sets. Bharathy won his first set in No.4 Singles 7-5.

During the post-match trophy presentation, Alves and Hidalgo Vega were named to the All-Tournament Team for their performance in No.1 Doubles.

With the final match at the 2025 MEAC Championship, NC Central finished with a 16-6 record, the best finish in the Division I era.

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