Over the weekend, No. 16 NC State men’s tennis split its matches, falling to No. 6 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before racing past Boston College in its return home to the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh.
With just four matches left in its regular season and the ACC Championships on the horizon, the Wolfpack (13-5, 6-2 ACC) dominated against the Eagles in a 7-0 win. However, NC State fell just short in its match against the Demon Deacons by suffering a 4-2 loss.
At Wake Forest, 4-2 loss
The Demon Deacons earned an early lead by capturing the doubles point in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest defeated the No. 78 pair of seniors Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli on court one a 6-2 decision while sitting down the No. 36 pair of sophomore Martin Borisiouk and junior Joseph Wayand in a 6-4 result on court two.
While juniors Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek were battling in a close match at 5-5 on court three, the Demon Deacons had already clinched the round and a 1-0 lead.
Wake Forest doubled its lead with a quick two-set win over Wayand in the singles round. However, Van Sambeek responded with a two-setter of his own in a 6-1, 6-2 win on court three.
No. 46 Catry evened the match at 2-2 with a similar straight-sets singles victory. However, seniors’ 6-3, 6-2 win on court two was the last Wolfpack point of the day.
Wake Forest won the next two matches to claim the overall match victory at 4-2. No. 103 Staeheli fell 6-4, 7-5 on court four while No. 67 Shick fell in a three-set thriller on court one.
After edging out Wake’s No. 54 DK Suresh Ekebaram 10-8 in their first-set tiebreaker, Ekambaram took the second set in another breaker. Shick eventually lost his final set for a final line of 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 that clinched the victory for the Demon Deacons.
While NC State’s dominated teams such as Boston College — evidenced by its five sweeps in March — it’s fallen just short of beating ranked teams such as Virginia and Wake Forest.
“Togetherness and our belief system is the most important,” Catry said. “Yeah, I feel like we’re very together already and we just got to keep believing that we belong with those top five, top 10 teams. It’s gonna pay off, we just got to get over the line and show to ourselves that we belong.”
Versus Boston College, 7-0 win
In its return to Raleigh, the Wolfpack took down the Eagles in a 7-0 sweep. Despite a slow start in doubles, NC State turned up the heat in singles and brought out the brooms against Boston College.
“It’s an ACC match, and to win 7-0 is fantastic,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “I thought the guys were quite stingy in areas, which I really like. Thought [they were] a little bit sluggish just starting out in the doubles, but … we hadn’t been home in a while. But overall, I thought, good performance.”
NC State took the doubles round by way of two 6-4 wins on courts two and three. First, Van Sambeek and Shick took court three while Wayand and junior Damien Salvestre won on court two. While Catry and Staeheli were down 5-3 to their opponents, the Pack’s other pairs clinched the early point for their team.
The red-and-white won five out of its six singles matches in straight sets, starting with a fast 6-1, 6-2 singles win on court two from Shick. Salvestre followed his win with a similar 6-2, 6-1 win on court five to quickly put NC State into clinch position at 3-0.
Wayand clinched the Pack’s win at 4-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court six. Next, Van Sambeek beat out the Eagles’ Will Kasten 7-5, 6-0 while Staeheli needed a second set tiebreaker to beat his opponent in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) decision.
To finish the day, Catry won the only three-set match of the day, one he finished off with a third-set superbreaker. After battling back from a deficit and winning in his first set, Catry fell in his second but dominated in his breaker. Catry’s 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-2) win sealed the Wolfpack’s sweep over the Eagles.
“I think every guy is really showing their mettle,” Spencer said. “You can kind of pick anybody you want, and they’re all playing ball.”
NC State is set to embark on its final road trip of the regular season. It’s trip to Florida will see the Wolfpack take on Miami and Florida State before a pair of rivalry weekend bouts with UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke.
“Florida State and Miami are going to be very hostile environments — we got to manage that,” Catry said. “And then Duke and UNC is always a huge weekend, so we got to approach those one by one.
First serve against Miami is set for Friday, April 5, at 3 p.m. in Coral Gables, Florida.
