The NC State men’s tennis team made an impactful appearance at the 2014 ITA Carolina Regionals, which was hosted at the Cary Tennis Complex from Thursday through Monday.
The No. 9 doubles pair of senior Robbie Mudge and sophomore Ian Dempster highlighted the event for the Pack, as the tandem won the entire doubles portion of the tournament among a field of 64 teams.
“It feels really good to win,” Dempster said. “We played a lot of tough matches leading up to this. We played good tennis from Thursday to today.”
Doubles play began with four teams competing for the Wolfpack in the round of 64. Although Mudge and Dempster were given a bye in the first round, the doubles teams of senior Beck Bond and freshman Shoti Meparidze, and sophomore Nick Horton and junior Thomas Weigel each easily advanced to the second round. The pair of junior Simon Norenius and senior Austin Powell fell to the Appalachian State pairing of junior Zach Bost and sophomore Oliver Casey.
Dempster and Mudge were the only Pack pair to win in the second round, advancing them to the round of 16. The power combo survived and advanced through the tournament, defeating Coastal Carolina’s senior Kaue Pereira and senior Phillipe Tsangarides, South Carolina’s senior Andrew Adams and senior Kyle Koch, and Duke’s freshman Nicolas Alvarez and senior Raphael Hemmeler to advance to the final round.
In the doubles title, Mudge and Dempster faced Clemson’s third-seeded tandem of senior Alejandro Augusto and senior Hunter Harrington, the pair that eliminated Bond and Meparidze, 8-4, in the second round.
Augosto and Harrington captured the first break of the match to take a 2-0 lead, then taking advantage, won the first set, 6-3. Mudge and Dempster accrued a dominant 5-0 lead in the second. The pair closed the set, 6-3, to force a third-set tiebreak.
Clemson took a 9-7 lead in the tiebreak and had match point twice.
“I was just thinking to get the serve inside the box and hit the spot that Ian [Dempster] called,” Mudge said. “Luckily it went well for us on those points. I didn’t really serve all that well for most of the match, but positive reinforcement from Ian helped me play well for those two points.”
With Mudge serving, the Pack’s dynamic duo was able to save two straight match points and extend the tiebreak to 9-9. Mudge went on to win his next service point, as a forehand into the net by Clemson secured the exhilarating win for Mudge and Dempster, 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9).
“There isn’t much to it really,” Dempster said. “You just have to play your game, focus as much as you can, and hope you can get the `W’ at the end if you do all of the right things.”
Throughout the tournament, Mudge and Dempster earned four victories in a tiebreak, which included a 10-point tiebreak to decide the match in the semifinal and the final.
NC State competed strongly in the singles portion of the tournament. Eight players from NC State competed in the field of 128 players from schools around the region.
Mudge, Bond, Norenius, Weigel, Dempster, Horton and Powell each won their first round matches. Once advancing to the second round, Mudge, Norenius, Horton and Powell continued to survive, furthering themselves to the round of 32.
Half of the Wolfpack contenders were knocked out on Friday, as Powell and Mudge we’re the only remaining players in the round of 16. Powell fell to Duke freshman Nicolas Alvarez, 6-3, 6-4, while Mudge emerged victorious over South Carolina senior Thiago Pinheiro, 6-1, 6-3.
Mudge competed formidably, but was defeated in the quarterfinals by UNC-CH’s No. 1 seed sophomore Brayden Schnur, 6-2, 6-4. Shnur would go on to win the singles title over Duke’s No. 4 seed senior Jason Tahir, 6-3, 6-2.
The regionals tournament completed the Wolfpack squad’s fall tennis season in singles, but with the dominant doubles victory, Mudge and Dempster have earned an automatic bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships to be played Nov. 6-9 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
“I think they would’ve been going to New York anyway since they’re highly ranked,” head coach Jon Choboy said. “They’ll obviously be going now since they won the tournament which is nice. They’re one of the best teams in the country. They haven’t played their best tennis in this tournament, but they found ways to win the crucial points.”
