Jack Sturdivant
Staff Writer
Caleb Thomas
Sports Editor
Henrique de Brito celebrates after a doubles point.
Troy men’s tennis fell to the North Alabama Lions by a score of 4-1 on Saturday, snapping their four-game win streak and undefeated home record.
Troy started off well in doubles, with Vincent Arbelaez and Noah Martens grabbing a 6-3 win in the first doubles spot. The pairing of Hiiro Sakamoto and Luciano Alcocer would give the Trojans the doubles point with a 6-4 win in the No. 3 spot.
The match in the No. 2 spot went unfinished, as Troy had already won the doubles point. While it was a solid start for the team, it all went downhill from there.
In singles play, the Lions would sweep the Trojans by winning in the No. 4, 6, 1, and 3 spots. The matches in the No. 2 and 5 spots both went unfinished with Troy trailing in both matches.
The Trojans didn’t win a single set in the matches that were finished – Nicolas Simkin, Martens, Thiago Drozdowski and Henrique de Brito all fell in two sets. However, Yeray Andres Pastor and Sakamoto were battling when North Alabama clinched the match.
Andres Pastor, playing from line two, took the first set of his match 6-2. UNA’s Izan Orgiles fought back with a 6-3 win to send it to the third set, where Andres Pastor was trailing 2-1 when the match concluded.
Sakamoto, on the other hand, dropped the first set from line five 6-3. He was in the process of battling in the second set as the match ended with him trailing 5-4. In 2025, Sakamoto is 6-1 with two unfinished matches.
With that loss, the Trojans fall to 5-4 on the season and will look to bounce back when they head to Lorman, Mississippi, to take on the Alcorn State Braves. The first serve is set for 10 a.m. and live stats will be available on TroyTrojans.com.
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