Niox, Rousson Shine For Bears At Mercer Gridiron Classic

Thursday, October 1

Macon, Ga.

All Day

Mercer University

Mercer Gridiron Classic

Niox, Rousson Shine For Bears At Mercer Gridiron Classic

10/4/2026 7:13:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

MACON – Newcomers Nico Niox and Raphaël Rousson both turned in unblemished clips in singles play, while the doubles tandem of Shingo Masuda and Pablo Paternostro collected a trio of wins in doubles action, to lead the Bears at the Mercer Gridiron Classic over the weekend at the John Drew Smith Tennis Center.

Niox, a transfer from Texas A&M Corpus Christi, yielded just nine games on the way to posting straight-sets victories over Georgia Southern's Charles de Saint Laumer and Kennesaw State's Dominic Ducariu, respectively. He then won by retirement in his semifinals matchup with KSU's Nathan Walters before the remainder of the tournament was washed out due to inclement weather in Middle Georgia.

Rousson was equally as impressive, downing Georgia State's Arthur Attrill in three sets and dispelling of Kennesaw State's Frederik Tandeter before his surge was halted by rain as well.

Masuda/Paternostro dominated doubles action for the Orange & Black. The tandem captured each of its first two matchups of the weekend, but faltered in the flight semifinals to Flagler's Simon Malis and Artiom Dorofeev. The duo rebounded in the third-place match with a 6-3 victory over MU's Alex Aldaz and Esteban Davila Gasser.

The Bears will continue the fall portion of their 2026-27 schedule, Oct. 14-19, when they head to Atlanta for the ITA Regional Championships. The 6-day event is scheduled to take place at Georgia Tech's Byers Tennis Complex.