The NC State men’s tennis team rose to the challenge to take down No. 25 Notre Dame in a close 4-3 match, coming down to junior Ivan Saveljic’s last singles match. The team was able to celebrate the home win at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center Friday after being on the road.

The No. 29 Wolfpack (12-5, 2-4) came out strong to the courts during the doubles match against the Fighting Irish (12-10, 3-3). The Pack later struggled in the singles matches. The singles had taken an unexpected turn when sophomore Alexis Galarneau was pulled from the lineup with freshman Robert Turzak stepping in.

“It was a great win,” Ivan Saveljic said. “Especially after the road in Florida where we didn’t play that great on all courts. I think it’s a great win and it’s giving us the confidence that we need back.”

The doubles matches were in favor of the Wolfpack. Juniors Igor and Ivan Saveljic had a solid start by keeping Notre Dame in check and taking a 5-0 lead. The brothers remained calm and supportive of one another, giving each other a fist bump after each play. The two ended the first match 6-1.

On the adjacent court, Galarneau and redshirt junior Michael Ogden kept Notre Dame at bay long enough to take the lead at 4-1 and ended strongly at 6-2.

Freshman Tadas Babelis and junior Georgiy Malyshev’s match was suspended at a tie 4-4 after catching up to Notre Dame from behind 4-3.

The Pack headed into the first round of singles with a 1-0 advantage over the Fighting Irish.

“ACC is always tough,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “And not having Alexis in the singles put a little bit more stress on us for sure. But what a job we did in the doubles. I think that was probably our best doubles point that we played all year. And the guys are really starting to execute there and getting a lot of confidence from that.”

The singles were a long and hard fought battle for the Wolfpack as the Irish were able to close in on the score and put pressure on the Wolfpack similar to last year’s game which the Pack won 4-3 as well.

For Igor Saveljic, Notre Dame’s junior Alex Lebedev gave way to a quick win in the first round of singles. Afterwards, Lebedev proved to be a tough match for every point that Saveljic was able to overcome; winning 6-2, losing 6-3 and taking the match at 6-3.

Both Ogden and Turzak lost to Notre Dame in two rounds of singles, ending their play earlier than the other four matches.

Babelis won his first and third match, each 6-4 and lost his second match, 6-3.

Malyshev dug himself into a hole in the first round, losing 6-1 but came back victorious in the second round as he was able to make a comeback in the set. Starting down 2-0, Malyshev won two consecutive points to tie up the score. He pushed forward, leading 5-3, before he managed to pull out a 7-6 win, but lost 6-3 in the third and final set.

Ivan Saveljic faced off against Notre Dame’s sophomore Matt Gamble who had defeated his brother, Igor, last year in two out of three sets.

Ivan Saveljic took the first loss, 6-4, but that didn’t stop him from fighting for the next two sets. Ivan Saveljic managed to push through with a 7-5 win during the second set. By this point, the Irish were tied with the Wolfpack 3-3, leaving the third and final round up to Ivan Saveljic in order to secure the team’s second ACC win for the season.

“Even in some of the games where [Ivan Saveljic] was 5-2 or 5-1 and he was playing that tough side, he still continued to play the right points for him,” Spencer said. “And in the end he was able to get through which was great for himself but also for the team because he’s one of these guys that we count on to be there every match. And I think he really had his positive energy today and when he has his positive energy, I feel like he could play with anybody.

The team immediately rushed onto Ivan Saveljic’s court after he secured the last point of the set to signal not only his 6-4 win, but the team’s victory.

“Being in that situation where it’s three-all in the dual match, it’s a lot of pressure for both me and my opponent,” Ivan Saveljic said. “I’ve been in this situation a couple of times and luckily tonight I was able to execute. I knew what I was doing the whole time but it’s always tough. It’s a big pressure on you.”

Spencer commended Saveljic for his performance against Gamble.

“Ivan is one of those guys that you just put your trust in,” Spencer said. “He’s a really mature tennis player but he’s also a really mature person. So he knows what he needs to do and the one word I would say for him today is brave. Cause he was really brave at the end of playing and executing at the points that he needed to play to get through that match. And he did that.”

The team has little rest as it gets ready to play against Boston College this Saturday at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center at 2 p.m.