The NC State men’s tennis quickly learned why Michigan is one of the nation’s best tennis teams when the No. 4 Wolverines defeated the Pack 4-0 on Friday, Feb. 10 in Raleigh.
While the Wolfpack (4-4) put up an admirable effort, it was ultimately no match for the powerful Michigan (9-0) squad, who remain undefeated on the season. NC State fought tooth and nail for the doubles round, but after the Wolverines took a 1-0 lead, they proceeded to methodically take the three singles courts thereafter to clinch the match at 4-0.
“Tough day for our guys, we didn’t quite have enough in the doubles,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “It put us down 1-0 and Michigan played a couple pretty comprehensive point. … Credit to Michigan, they never took their foot off the gas.”
NC State took it to its opponents in the doubles round, playing the Wolverines close on each and every court. Despite the promising start to the round, Michigan pulled away on two of the courts, defeating freshman Damien Salvestre and senior Martins Rocens on court two 6-4 and redshirt sophomore Braden Shick and sophomore Fons Van Sambeek 7-5.
After fending off the Pack in the doubles round, Michigan took a stronger hold on the match, winning three straight singles matches to complete the sweep.
Salvestre gave NC State its most promising singles performance of the day, though. Salvestre, who recently entered the lineup due to injury, played at the one spot in his first big singles match of the season. To make things even tougher, he squared off with Michigan’s Andrew Fenty, who is ranked No. 7 in the nation. That didn’t shake the sophomore, however, who embraced his court one duties and took the fight to Fenty, splitting his first two sets 5-7, 7-5 before the match was clinched by the Wolverines.
Michigan’s No. 42-ranked Patrick Maloney defeated Shick in a close match on court three for the Wolverines’ first singles win. While Shick hung around with his opponent, he eventually lost after falling in his second set tiebreaker.
Two more ranked Michigan players captured the next two points on courts two and four. Fifth-year senior Rafa Izquierdo Luque fell in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, while junior Luca Staeheli lost in an up-and-down three-setter on court four. Michigan’s 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Staeheli on court four sealed the sweep for the Wolverines, leaving Salvestre, Van Sambeek and senior Robin Catry stranded on their respective courts.
Despite the lopsided 4-0 scoreline, NC State still gave Michigan a battle, one that was apparent from its energy on each and every court.
“We’re always going to compete,” Spencer said. “We play one of the toughest schedules because of that. We like to say, when we turn the lights on, what do you got? We had everybody out there competing extremely hard. I think we played relatively smart today, so there’s just some execution things that we could have done a little bit better.”
After its tough test against the No. 4 Wolverines, NC State turns its attention to another strong team — Princeton.
The Wolfpack and Tigers are set to clash on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. in New Jersey.
