While NC State men’s tennis bowed out of the NCAA team Championships with a first round loss to Oklahoma, the Wolfpack — specifically fifth-year senior Rafa Izquierdo Luque and sophomore Joseph Wayand — showed out in the doubles tournament in Orlando, Florida. The pair achieved All-American status with their play, and headlined NC State’s individual performers at the championships.
Doubles — Rafa Izquierdo Luque and Joseph Wayand
No. 14 Izquierdo Luque and Wayand started off their run with a win against South Alabama’s duo. While the pair won their first set by a quick 6-2 margin, their opponents gave them more of a battle in the second set. However, the duo pulled out a 7-5 second set win to advance to a second round matchup against the Duke pair of Garrett Johns and Pedro Rodenas.
The second round battle against the pair of Blue Devils marked just the fourth time in program history that a doubles duo advanced to the second round. But the duo wasn’t done just yet. Izquierdo Luque and Wayand downed their ACC opponents in two close sets.
No. 25 Johns and Rodenas fought hard, but the Pack’s pair performed well in the clutch, taking the first set 7-5 and the second set 7-6 via a gritty tiebreak. The straight-sets win earned the pair All-American honors — the first players to achieve it since 2021 — and a match against Pepperdine’s Daniel De Jonge and Tim Zeitvogel.
However, the duo’s run was cut short in the quarterfinal match versus Pepperdine’s representatives. Izquierdo Luque and Wayand fell 6-3, 6-2, ending the pair’s impressive season.
Doubles — Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli
While Izquierdo Luque and Wayand carved out an admirable run in the doubles tourney, the season-long pair of senior Robin Catry and and junior Luca Staeheli fell in their first match of the championships.
Facing Alan Magadan and Sebastian Rodriguez of UTSA, the experienced pair fell in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
During the season, Catry and Staeheli were ranked as high as the No. 11 pair in the nation. Additionally, they ended the season with 15 wins, putting them second in the program’s record books in doubles wins as a pair.
Singles — Rafa Izquierdo Luque
Despite earning All-American honors days after with his doubles run, Izquierdo Luque — the Pack’s only singles representative — fell early on in the NCAA singles championship.
Izquierdo Luque faced one of the nation’s best — Stanford’s freshman phenom Nishesh Basavareddy. He battled, but No. 57 Izquierdo Luque fell 6-3, 7-5 to No. 15 Basavareddy, ending the NC State veteran’s goal of making a deep run in the tournament.
While the loss ended his singles career at NC State, Izquierdo Luque will go down as one of the Wolfpack’s best in recent memory. Playing a majority of the past two seasons at No. 1 in singles, the now-All-American will leave some large shoes to fill for the rest of the Pack’s players.
