No. 5 NC State men’s tennis pulled off a pair of 4-0 sweeps over Florida State and Miami over the weekend. More impressively, however, the Wolfpack achieved its highest-ever program ranking under head coach Kyle Spencer.
After clocking in at No. 5 in last week’s ITA poll, the Wolfpack was ready for whatever the Seminoles and Hurricanes could have thrown at it. No matter how hard the two opponents fought, a duo of dominant performances on Friday and Sunday backed up the red-and-white’s ranking.
“[The ACC] has complete teams,” Spencer said. “You have teams that will fight all the way through a match and I thought that’s what you saw this weekend. Even though the score with Florida State was 4-0, they’ve got a bunch of very good players and guys that are up for the challenge every week. It’s exciting to play in what we think is the best league in the country, and to be able to get two wins this weekend is just awesome.”
Spencer said his team’s historic ranking is a product of a relentless effort to fight for each other, no matter the challenges it faces.
“These guys play for each other,” Spencer said. “I mean they are hyper competitive in practice all the time, but they play for each other. And that’s the thing that’s really exciting — it’s that when you start having a team that cares more about the team than they do about themselves, then you’ve got something pretty special. And so that’s what you’re seeing; you’re seeing a team that fights for each other.”
Versus Florida State, 4-0 win
NC State swept Florida State in front of the largest crowd at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center this season. The Wolfpack took a close doubles round before winning three singles matches on Courts 4, 5 and 6 to set down the Seminoles.
The Wolfpack entered a hotly contested doubles round against the reigning ACC Champions where it needed a strong finish from the No. 8 pair of seniors Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek to win the doubles point.
After the pair of redshirt freshman William Manning and junior Martin Borisiouk fell 6-4 on Court 3 and the No. 12 pair of redshirt freshman Jules Leroux and senior Luca Staeheli won 6-4 on Court 2, it all came down to Shick and Van Sambeek, who were locked in a battle with the No. 3 pair in the country. Florida State’s Alex Bulte and Youcef Rihane gave Shick and Van Sambeek all they could handle, but eventually they overcame the formidable duo in a 6-4 win on Court 1 to claim the doubles point.
The bottom half of the Pack’s lineup shined in singles against the Seminoles. Manning first secured a win via a 6-3, 6-2 rout on Court 6 to get his team out to a 2-0 lead.
Shick said the well-roundedness of NC State’s potent lineup inspires confidence in the team.
“The wins are coming from everywhere,” Shick said. “When you are able to be out there and trust every spot, it makes it way easier if you know that you don’t start the way you want — you know all the other five guys are going to make a push. If we lose six first sets I feel that we’re all going to have confidence we can come back because it can be anybody to get those three wins.”
Next, Van Sambeek beat his opponent on Court 4 6-3, 6-3 to put his team into clinch position. Meanwhile, Leroux finished off Florida State with a win on Court 5. Leroux had to battle for his two-set victory, which included a tiebreak win at the end of his first set. Leroux’s 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 win earned NC State the sweep at 4-0.
Versus Miami, 4-0 win
NC State beat its second Florida-based opponent Sunday afternoon in a win over Miami in Raleigh. The red-and-white won the doubles round before once again winning three quick singles matches for its second sweep of the weekend.
The Wolfpack started doubles with a pair of 6-2 wins on Courts 1 and 2. The Pack’s pair of top-25 duos worked their magic — Leroux and Staeheli beat their opponents on Court 2 just before Shick and Van Sambeek claimed the round with their win on Court 1.
While NC State eventually swept the Hurricanes in singles, the Pack was met with a tough battle in the latter round.
“The singles, it was tough,” Spencer said. “Miami has a lot of good players, guys that fight very hard and I think you saw that across the board.”
While the bottom of the Pack’s lineup got the job done against the Seminoles, the top did its thing against the Hurricanes, starting with a win straight-sets win from Shick on Court 1 over Miami’s No. 42 Martin Katz, an opponent Shick has been defeated by twice before.
“I’ve actually lost to that guy twice — some not great memories against him,” Shick said. “So I’m happy with the difference I made today. I really just tried to play as aggressive as I could, taking every ball that was short and coming in — that’s the main thing I’m working on.”
Shick made an effort to go on the offensive, opting to end rallies as soon as he could against his foe. The strategy earned the senior a 6-3, 6-4 win and the Wolfpack a 2-0 lead.
Van Sambeek notched the Pack’s next win, a 6-3, 6-2 victory on Court 4 while No. 55 Staeheli, who fell behind in his first set, battled for an eventual 6-4, 6-3 win on Court 3 to clinch the 4-0 sweep over the Hurricanes.
NC State is set to hit the road for its next four matches. The Pack’s road stint will start with a visit to Louisville, Kentucky as it takes on the Cardinals Friday. First serve against Louisville is set for 5 p.m.
