The NC State men’s tennis team beat No. 17 Michigan in a close matchup by a score of 4-3.

This huge win in Ann Arbor against a ranked opponent brings the Wolfpack to a 3-0 start to the season, the first two wins coming from 7-0 sweeps against Elon and USC Upstate. This was the first match of the season for Michigan, bringing them to an 0-1 record. 

Michigan started off the match on top, winning two of the three doubles matches to put them up 1-0. NC State’s duo of senior Alexis Galarneau and junior Rober Turzak was the only Wolfpack doubles partnership to win, with a 6-4 victory. 

“It’s tough to lose the doubles point in a tiebreaker, but we bounced back, and they really fought,” said head coach Kyle Spencer in a statement for GoPack.com. “It helped with Tadas Babelis getting a point on the board as well, and then of course Rafa Izquierdo Luque winning his first big match as a member of the Pack.”

The Wolfpack brought it back in singles, as junior Tadas Babelis started off with a win over No. 94 Ondrej Styler. The Wolverines then won the next two singles matches with sophomore Yannai Barkai and freshman Marins Rocens.

Following the back-to-back losses, sophomore Rafa Izquierdo Luque and Garlarneau then won the next two matches, putting the Wolfpack just one point away from clinching.

The deciding match was between the Wolfpack’s Turzak and the Wolverines’ Harrison Brown. Turzak won the first set 6-2, but Brown won the second 6-3. In a winner-take-all set, Turzak brought home the victory for the Wolfpack with a 7-6(5) win over Brown.

The Wolfpack will be back in action Friday, as it continues its road trip with a 7 p.m. match at Northwestern.