NC State’s Alexis Galarneau made history during this fall season of men’s tennis, ranking No. 16, the highest ranking in recorded NC State history.
Head coach Kyle Spencer expressed excitement over Galarneau’s accomplishments and his future in tennis.
“[He] certainly had a good fall,” Spencer said. “We’re happy with his development and his progression to some of the higher levels of college tennis. We’re excited about his future as a tennis player and also as a person. [He’s] done a good job of being able to handle big situations as we saw last week in Minnesota with a match on the line and coming through for the team. I think his future is really bright.”
Along with his new ranking, he also became the first one to reach the quarterfinals at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s All-American Tennis Championship from NC State men’s tennis.
Galarneau commented on his own success, achieved in such a short period of time.
“It’s obviously an honor, but also just the fact that I can represent NC State is even better and all these achievements are also because of my teammates,” Galarneau said. “I think it just pushes everyone to get better.”
The 18-year-old sophomore from Canada didn’t reach such an achievement overnight. It all started back when he was a young boy.
“[I] started around eight [years-old],” Galarneau said. “I played in the park with my brothers and really liked it from the start. I also liked the aspect that it’s individual and how competitive it is and very active.”
The competitiveness is what helped to push Galarneau to play at a collegiate level, but there was a little more to it than that.
“And I also like the team aspect at college where you compete for your team and your school which is pretty fun,” he said.
Galarneau is far from home, as he is from Canada, but chose to come south to NC State when retired head coach Jon Choboy recruited him.
“I was brought here by the old head coach, which was Jon Choboy, and I really liked my visit so I decided, ‘Might as well come and play for NC State,’” Galarneau said.
The Wolfpack is definitely happy to have Galarneau join the Pack as Spencer pointed out one of Galarneau’s main strengths: his strong mentality.
“I think he’s one of these guys that puts the team above himself,” Spencer said. “And I think whenever you do that you alleviate some of the internal stress you might have in a match. He’s definitely improving, and I think he’s improving every day and learning more about himself and his game.”
Galarneau aims higher as well and echoed the statement of working hard every day for both himself and the team.
“We try to always get better every day,” Galarneau said. “We try to not put too many goals or results that we want but rather we just compete as hard as we can every time.”
Galarneau and teammate junior Michael Ogden are ranked No. 32 for doubles. Galarneau explained the difference in mentality and importance of singles and doubles.
“Doubles is pretty simple and gives a good rhythm coming into singles, so I think it’s a good thing we have both doubles and singles,” Galarneau said. “And doubles [is] actually pretty important, so we put a lot of value on it.”
Although both types of matches are important for the team, Galarneau said he has a love for singles matches.
“I’ve always played singles all my life,” Galarneau said. “But I do enjoy playing doubles too.”
Galarneau found his rhythm again during his match against Northwestern, putting him back in the swing of it by the time he and his teammates faced off against Minnesota.
“Well I was coming back from an injury also, so … I felt a little nervous, a little off,” said Galarneau. “After that I was able to get my rhythm for Minnesota, and the result was much better.”
Galarneau has accomplished a lot in less than two years at NC State, but he isn’t stopping there. Spencer agrees that Galarneau will only continue to grow.
“We’re certainly excited for his progress from the fall coming into the spring,” Spencer said. “And exceeding some of the level that we saw in the fall.”
