One day after losing in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Championships to Duke, NC State men’s tennis earned a 4-0, get-back win over Cal in the consolation round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The No. 8 Blue Devils hosted NC State, Middle Tennessee and Cal over the first weekend of the midseason championships. After Duke beat the Wolfpack 4-0 and Cal lost to Middle Tennessee 4-1, NC State squared off against the Golden Bears in Durham in a neutral site match.
After a hotly contested doubles round, NC State (3-2) shaped up in singles, winning three quick matches in straight sets to finish off the Bears (0-3). While facing a much different opponent than the Duke squad it played the previous day, the Pack turned in an impressive rebound performance in Durham.
The early doubles round was dicey for the Wolfpack — Cal and NC State split the first two doubles courts with respective 6-4 wins. The No. 13 pair of sophomore Martin Borisiouk and junior Joseph Wayand won on court two while juniors Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek fell in an equally close match on court three.
The doubles point came down to seniors Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli on court one. While it took extra games, the senior duo gutted out a clutch, 7-5 win to take the early point.
Sporting a 1-0 lead, NC State had a much easier time putting away the Golden Bears in singles. The Pack did what it could not in its match against Duke — capitalize on its first set wins to put away its opponents.
No. 120 Catry struck first, blazing past his opponent on court one by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Up 2-0, Staeheli added to the lead with a 6-2, 6-3 win on court three that put the Wolfpack in clinch position.
Shick then clinched the 4-0 match victory with a similar 6-3, 6-3 win on court four. While the Wolfpack won the match with three straight-sets singles victories on courts one, three and four, its prospects on the other courts were much less promising.
Van Sambeek, Wayand and Borisiouk all fell in their first sets on their respective courts. Similar to NC State against Duke, Cal had a chance to pull off a comeback but Shick’s win on court four closed that door for good.
Once the Pack hit 4-0, those other matches ended. Most notably, Wayand was up 6-5 in his second set after a 6-1 first set loss and Borisiouk was down 1-3 in his second set after losing in a first set tiebreaker shortly before.
With the win, NC State gets back in the win column and gets ready to continue its cross-Carolinas road trip when it travels to Columbia, South Carolina for a match against South Carolina. After its duel with the Gamecocks, NC State will play its second match of the weekend against Columbia University in Raleigh.
First serve against the Gamecocks is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2.
