ATLANTA, Ga. – The North Carolina Central men's tennis team will bring back hardware to the Bull City after winning the 2025 HBCU National Tennis Championship at the South Fulton Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.

NCCU earned a total of 82 points during the tournament, which was a 25-point lead over Alabama State (57 points). Tennessee State, the winner in the last two championships, took third with 52 points. This is the first time since 2014 that the Maroon and Gray won the title

Over a span of four days, the Eagles faced competition from various HBCU programs. Participating teams in the men's bracket included Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Alcorn State, Bluefield State, Howard, Jackson State, Rust, Tennessee State and Xavier (La.).

Leading the charge for NCCU were Naresh Bharathy, Antoni Pankowski, Rodrigo Alves, Leo Fortier-Gariepy and Kareem Abdul Hakim, who all played in singles or doubles finals in their draws.

Bharathy was the champion of Flight B Singles and was also joined by Pankowski as Flight B Doubles champs over Jackson State's Federico Pieckenstainer Favole and Hung-Yu Chen. Bharathy had to battle against teammate Alves for the singles title in a 7-6, 7-5 victory. Fortier-Gariepy and Abdul Hakim were doubles finalists in Flight A.

Every Eagle contributed by triumphing in individual matches. Freshman Tim Kohl earned his first win with NC Central, advancing to the Flight B quarterfinals after victories over Alabama A&M and Alabama State. Neiman Sneed and Lucas Artigas each won their round of 16 matches in the Flight C consolation draw, including an 8-0 quarterfinal triumph for Artigas over Rust's Skye Glasgow.

NC Central will switch gears to the MEAC Individual Championships at the Cary Tennis Park on Oct. 2-4. Overall winners in doubles and singles advance to the ITA Conference Masters in San Diego, Calif. on Nov. 6-9.

For more information on NCCU Athletics, visit NCCUEaglePride.com, or download the NCCU Eagles Athletics app.