No. 16 NC State men’s tennis ended its 2024 regular season on a high note with a pair of record-breaking wins over No. 23 UNC-Chapel Hill and No. 14 Duke in Raleigh.
The Wolfpack (17-5, 10-2 ACC) beat the Blues to establish a new program record for ACC wins at 10. Falling only to No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 3 Virginia over the course of its conference schedule this season, NC State put an exclamation point on its best regular campaign in recent memory with a 4-0 sweep over Carolina (13-8, 7-5 ACC) and a 4-2 senior day victory over Duke (17-8, 9-3).
“So proud of the guys and what they’ve been able to do,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “10 wins in the ACC, I don’t think we’ve done that since we’ve been here. So that’s an amazing accomplishment.”
Against UNC, 4-0
The Wolfpack swept the first of its Tobacco Road rivals on Friday, April 12 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center. NC State comfortably won the doubles round before ripping through the Tar Heels in singles.
Juniors Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek started the doubles round off with a 6-3 win on court three while the Pack’s No. 65 pair of seniors Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli got their own 6-3 win on court two. Just like that, the Wolfpack was up 1-0 and it didn’t look back.
The red-and-white quickly won its three singles matches needed to clinch the match at 4-0, all of which came in two sets. Junior Damien Salvestre won 6-3, 6-4 on court five and a ranked, 6-4, 6-4 win from No. 79 Shick over Carolina’s No. 122 Philip Jordan put NC State in clinch position.
From there, a 6-3, 6-3 win from freshman Jakub Katuch on court six sealed the deal for the Pack and iced his team’s second straight win over the Tar Heels.
Against Duke, 4-2
While the home-crowd at the J.W Isenhour Tennis Center on Friday night was impressive, Wolfpack faithful broke the team’s attendance record on Sunday afternoon for the team’s senior day celebration that preceded NC State’s 4-2 romp over the Blue Devils.
“Fantastic atmosphere,” Staeheli said. “I think that’s the best crowd I’ve ever played in — today was electric. Yeah, that’s why we practice so hard, to have those kinds of moments and then share that victory with my teammates. So that was special for sure.”
With a full crowd in attendance, NC State got to work against Duke, beating the Blue Devils in a close doubles round. While Shick and Van Sambeek won 6-3 on court three, Duke’s fearsome No. 3 pair of Garrett Johns and Pedro Redenas beat out the Pack’s No. 72 pair of sophomore Martin Borisiouk and junior Joseph Wayand 6-4 on court one.
With the point on the line, Catry and Staeheli doubled down on court two and defeated the No. 56 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang 6-3 to gain a 1-0 lead over Duke.
While not as smooth as its win against UNC, the Wolfpack had no trouble in winning its three singles matches needed to beat the Blue Devils.
Duke responded to NC State’s doubles win with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Katuch on court six to even the score at 1-1. Salvestre then threw a counterpunch with a succinct, two-set, 6-3, 6-2 win on court five.
Duke once again evened the match out with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Shick on court two from No. 44 Rodenas. However, NC State won the next two matches to claim the 4-2 victory. Staeheli beat Andrew Zhang 6-4, 6-2 on court three just seconds before Van Sambeek closed out his 6-3, 6-4 win on court three.
To finish it all off, the Pack celebrated Catry — it’s only senior — in its post-match senior day ceremony. The emotional moment for Catry and company put a bittersweet note on the Pack’s regular season. Meanwhile, the team started to turn its attention to the incoming ACC tournament in Cary, North Carolina, later this week.
“So I think today we’ll very much enjoy and keep thinking about the ACC tournament next weekend and try to go for a win,” Catry said. “And we’ve found our lineup, all the guys are so dialed in and it feels to me like we’re at the highest point of our season and it’s the perfect timing. So, excited to see what’s about to come in the next couple of weeks.”
NC State will play either Florida State or Virginia Tech in the ACC Championships on Friday, April 19 at 10 a.m.
