North Carolina Central Narrowly Edges STAC Men's Tennis 4-3

Posted: Mar 09, 2025

Altamonte Springs, Fla. – With rain in the forecast in the Orlando-area for Monday, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team kicked off its 2025 Spring Break Florida tour a day early on Sunday against North Carolina Central University at Sanlando Park. The Spartans clinched doubles play, before the Eagles swiped four out of six singles matches to take a slim 4-3 decision.

STAC opened the contest, taking the doubles point on the strength two victories as No. 2 Seth Newman & Henry Ronnberg defeated Kareem Abdul Hakim & Oliver Saarinen, 6-3 and No. 1 Don Vinz Lominoque and Nagamitsu Kuroda beat Hugo Hidalgo Vega & Rodrigo Alves, 7-5. N.C. Central prevented the clean sweep with No. 3 Antoni Pankowski & Leo Fortier-Gariepy winning against Erik Victor Tauson & Ondrej Sramek, 6-1.

In singles action, NCCU got its first point of the day with No. 2 Kareem Abdul Hakim downing Don Vinz Lominoque 6-2, 6-3. Then, STAC's No. 6 Henry Ronnberg triumphed over Oliver Saarinen 6-2, 6-2. The Eagles returned the favor with three straight wins, as No. 3 Rodrigo Alves beat Lorenzo Meschini 7-5, 6-1, No. 1 Hugo Hidalgo Vega defeated Seth Newman 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 and No. 4 Naresh Bharathy took down Erik Victor Tauson 7-6 (4), 6-4 to take the team victory. The final matchup saw the Spartans No. 5 Ondrej Sramek victorious over Antoni Pankowski in three sets 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

N.C. CENTRAL 4/STAC 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Don Vinz Lominoque & Nagamitsu Kuroda (STAC) def. Hugo Hidalgo Vega & Rodrigo Alves (NCCU), 7-5

2. Seth Newman & Henry Ronnberg (STAC) def. Kareem Abdul Hakim & Oliver Saarinen (NCCU), 6-3

3. Antoni Pankowski & Leo Fortier-Gariepy (NCCU) def. Erik Victor Tauson & Ondrej Sramek (STAC), 6-1

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*

SINGLES

1. Hugo Hidalgo Vega (NCCU) def. Seth Newman (STAC) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2

2. Kareem Abdul Hakim (NCCU) def. Don Vinz Lominoque (STAC) 6-2, 6-3

3. Rodrigo Alves (NCCU) def. Lorenzo Meschini (STAC) 7-5, 6-1

4. Naresh Bharathy (NCCU) def. Erik Victor Tauson (STAC) 7-6 (4), 6-4

5. Ondrej Sramek (STAC) def. Antoni Pankowski (NCCU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

6. Henry Ronnberg (STAC) def. Oliver Saarinen (NCCU) 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish: 2, 6, 3, 1, 4*, 5

NCCU Record: 5-4, 1-0 MEAC

STAC Record: 6-2, 0-0 ECC

THE ROCKHILL REPORT

"We had an opportunity to win today but just were not able to do some of the things necessary to be successful at this level," said Head Coach Dan Rockhill. "Conditioning was an issue, but this can and will be corrected, if we are willing to do the work."

"Our doubles continues to improve. If we can get all three teams playing well and perhaps more importantly, competing well, we will be fine."

"This team is being built to handle difficult situations and fight for every point. However, we will need all participating players to be on board with the mission. We are not there yet. There is so much more that goes into winning tennis matches than how you hit a tennis ball. Collectively, this team needs to understand and trust the process."

"I am happy for Henry (today’s MIP) and Ondrej," commented Rockhill. "Both competed well mentally and physically. Mitsu was solid in doubles and rewarded the team by making big plays in key moments. He is getting so much better and is going to be a STAC force soon."

UP NEXT

STAC takes on Hampton University on Tuesday, March 11 at 11:00 a.m. in Orlando, Florida.