After an impressive season-opening doubleheader sweep, the No. 19 NC State men’s tennis team took a step back in its first road match of the 2023 season, suffering a 4-3 loss to Northwestern.

The Wildcats (2-0), who landed just outside the nation’s top 25 teams in the ITA preseason rankings, pulled off the early-season upset even after the Wolfpack (2-1) took a 2-0 after a strong doubles round and a quick singles win. NC State showed promise in a number of the other singles matches early on in the round, but Northwestern slowly turned each court, winning four straight to clinch the match at 4-2.

It was relatively smooth sailing for NC State to start. The No. 38 ranked pair of senior Martins Rocens and sophomore Fons Van Sambeek captured the first of the Pack’s two doubles wins 6-2. While the Wildcats took the third doubles court, senior Robin Catry and junior Luca Staeheli cruised to a 6-3 victory on court one to earn their team a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.

Staeheli carried over his strong doubles performance into singles, beating his Wildcat opponent 7-5, 6-3. But that was right where the Pack’s momentum stalled out and Northwestern’s jumpstarted.

Northwestern turned up the heat in the singles round, winning the next four matches to claim victory overall. While it looked as though things were trending in the Pack’s direction in the early games of the first sets, the Wildcats hunkered down, slowly turning each court as NC State’s control of the match slipped away.

The first to fall was NC State’s No. 122 ranked fifth-year senior Rafa Izquierdo Luque, who lost 3-6, 5-7 on court one. Next, Catry fell 5-7, 5-7, and just like that, the two sides were tied at 2-2.

Northwestern had to battle for its remaining two courts, but pulled through all the same. Rocens took No. 97 Ivan Yatsuk to three sets but ultimately lost, putting the Cats in position to clinch. It came down to redshirt sophomore Braden Shick, who’s been known for delivering in the clutch before for the Pack. This time, however, it wasn’t meant to be as he fell in both of his set tiebreakers to No. 110 Trice Pickens 6-7, 6-7.

With Shick’s loss on court four, Northwestern had clinched the upset win at 4-2 after its impressive singles round. Even though Van Sambeek eventually won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 on court six, the sophomore’s win was purely consolidation for NC State after its opponents’ clinch as it moved the final score to 4-3.

NC State will return home for its next match and will look to rebound after a lackluster day in singles. However, the job won’t get any easier for the Wolfpack as it’s set to take on No. 16 Harvard.

Play against the Crimson will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh.