No. 21 NC State men’s tennis continued its daunting slate of away nonconference matches over the weekend against a pair of ranked teams in No. 17 Michigan and No. 6 Columbia.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Pack continued its red-hot streak by taking down the Wolverines 4-2. However, NC State suffered its second loss of the season in a 4-1 defeat in New York City at the hands of the Lions.

At Michigan, 4-2 win

Coming off its triumphant run at the ITA Kickoff Weekend where it defeated LSU and then-No. 9 Mississippi State, the red-and-white carried its red-hot momentum into its match against the Wolverines. After taking the doubles point, the Pack won the three singles matches it needed for its second ranked win of the season.

The Pack’s duo of redshirt freshman Jules Leroux and senior Luca Staeheli got the action started with a 6-2 win over their opponents. While Michigan’s duo on court 1 was giving the No. 102 pair of seniors Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek a fight, the Pack’s duo on court 3 — junior Martin Borisiouk and freshman Noah Gabriel — beat their opponents 6-3 to snatch the doubles round from the hosts.

Despite the deficit, Michigan fought back in the singles round when No. 113 Patorn Hanchaikul swiftly defeated redshirt freshman William Manning 6-2, 6-4 on court 5.

No. 26 Borisiouk beat Michigan’s Will Cooksey in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 to give NC State the lead back. No. 17 Shick extended that lead with a two-set win of his own on court 1 over No. 59 Gavin Young. Shick’s ranked win was hard-fought in his first set, which ended in a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreak. After that, the Pack’s senior figured out his opponent, silencing him in a 6-0 second-set win.

In clinch position at 3-1, NC State finished off its ranked win at Michigan with a win on court 6 delivered by Leroux in three sets, who took the first and third set of his match against the Wolverines’ Nicholas Steiglehner to clinch the match.

While the Wolverines simultaneously finished off a win on court 2 over No. 97 Staeheli, the Pack clinched the impressive win at a score of 4-2.

At Columbia, 4-1 loss

The Wolfpack stayed on the road to play Columbia in New York City. NC State’s first loss of the season came in a defeat against an Ivy League school in then-No. 21 Harvard at home and its second loss came against another Ivy Leaguer in the Lions.

Columbia took the doubles round from the Pack despite Leroux and Staeheli earning their second doubles win of the weekend. While the pair took court 2 in a 6-3 win, Shick and Van Sambeek fell on court 1 while Borisiouk and Gabriel fell on court 3 to their ranked opponents in a 6-4 loss.

Columbia’s Michael Zheng, the No. 1 player in the nation, took on Shick on court 1 in singles. While Shick put up a fight — especially in the first set which ended in a tiebreaker — Zheng got the better of Shick in two sets to double the Lions’ lead to 2-0.

Van Sambeek put NC State on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court 4 over Max Westphal but Columbia had too big of a lead to overcome. The Lions beat Gabriel on court 6 and Borisiouk on court 2, each in straight sets to clinch the match over NC State.

Both Staeheli and Leroux’s match went unfinished on courts 3 and 5, respectively.

NC State will continue its extended road trip with another Ivy League showdown on Friday. First serve against the Princeton Tigers is set for 6 p.m.