After a whirlwind day of competition, NC State men’s tennis won both matches on Senior Day at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The Wolfpack (13-9, 3-6 ACC) had an explosive 7-0 win against University of Miami (7-13, 1-8 ACC) and 4-0 win against UNC-Charlotte 49ers (17-3, 1-0 C-USA).
“We had two tough matches to play and we did it at less than full strength,” head coach Jon Choboy said. “The teams we played today were evenly matched. Miami is a talented but young team, and Charlotte has six seniors.”
Seniors Beck Bond, Austin Powell and Robbie Mudge were honored before their match against Miami. The trio won their singles matches in straight sets.
In doubles, the Pack dominated with juniors Thomas Weigel and Simon Norenius winning 8-2 and sophomore Nick Horton and Mudge 8-5; Bond and Powell’s match went unfinished once NC State won the doubles point.
Horton’s singles match was the only court to go to a third set which he won 6-2. Norenius clinched the Miami match for the Wolfpack with his single’s win over opponent Wilfredo Gonzalez.
“Pretty good all-around singles and doubles effort,” Choboy said. “Our guys did a good job of adapting [to injuries].”
Before the second match of the day for NC State, Choboy and the 49er head coach Billy Boykin decided to only play a shortened format, which ends at four points instead of seven.
NC State once again stole the doubles point in the match against 49ers. Mudge and Horton continued their success with another 8-5 win in doubles competition, while Powell and freshman Shoti Meparidze lost 5-8 to 49ers Alex Calott and Forrest Edwards. Bond and Weigel had a tiebreaker match in doubles to win overall 8-7.
The Pack boasted its stamina in single play.
Mudge won the first set 6-1 and battled to win the second, 7-5 against Vikram Hundal.
Weigel was on fire in his singles match, winning the first set 6-1 and the second 6-3 against Kamil Khalil.
Horton clinched the final point of the match, coming from a first set win, 7-6, to a second set win, 6-2, against Alex Calott.
Powell’s and Bond’s matches remained unfinished. Bond was only a point away from winning his singles match. Powell had lost the first set, 1-6, but he won the second set and was in the middle of the tiebreaker when NC State won.
Meparidze showed promise despite his loss of the first set, 4-6. He won the second set, 6-1, and kept up with opponent Paul Cisti. His match went unfinished once NC State reached the fourth match point.
In terms of rebuilding, Choboy is confident, especially after a day like Sunday.
“It’s a bit of a challenge, but we have good freshmen coming in,” Choboy said. “Thomas is strong in doubles and singles, as is Simon. [Overall], we’ve got four returning players, but it’s never easy to replace three seniors like this. I don’t recall having three impactful seniors graduating like this before.”
Double-headers do not faze the Wolfpack, as demonstrated by their shutout wins Sunday.
“We train pretty hard each day, and we’re in good physical condition,” Choboy said. “It all depends on the intensity of practice, after that, games are just games.”
As for the rest of the season, Choboy said the Wolfpack’s motto will be “Battle through and get healthy.”
The Pack only has three regular season matchups before the ACC championships begin on April 23.
