ORLANDO, Fla. – North Carolina Central men's tennis earned its second victory in Orlando, Florida, opening Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play against Howard on Tuesday afternoon. The Eagles defeated the Bison, 6-1, at the USTA National Campus.

NCCU (5-5) swept all three doubles matches for the second straight contest. The pairs of Pol Puig Montiel and Leo Fortier-Gariepy (No. 3) and Naresh Bharathy and Antoni Pankowski (No. 2) each earned 6-4 wins. Bharathy and Pankowski are now on a five-match winning streak. The duo of Rodrigo Alves and Kareem Abdul Hakim triumphed 6-3 at the No. 1 position.

Santiago Pinna was the first to finish singles play with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Kendrick Lash at No. 5 singles, extending his singles winning streak to six matches. Fellow freshman Puig Montiel also did not drop a game in his first set before closing out Alexander Monagan at No. 6 singles.

Pankowski is on a streak of his own, winning his fifth straight singles match with a victory over Shawn Yon at No. 4. He now holds an 8-2 singles record this season. Abdul Hakim's No. 3 match went to three sets after the senior dropped the second set, but he responded with a 6-0 win in the third.

At No. 1 singles, Bharathy earned a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Michael Major Jr. Alves played in the final match of the day, falling in a 10-3 match tiebreak to Kamran McIntosh-Ross at No. 2 singles.

Next up, the Eagles face St. Thomas on Wednesday, March 11 at 1 p.m. NCCU returns to Lake Cane Tennis Center for that match.

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