© 2012 NCSU Student Media
Getting low, sophomore Sean Weber hits the ball up in the air and across the net April 7. The Wolfpack fell to the Maryland Terrapins 4-3 at Curtis & Jacqueline Dail Outdoor Stadium. Photo by Ryan Parry.
The No. 36 Wolfpack men’s tennis team picked up its second ACC victory of the season but also dropped a conference match at home this weekend, moving the team’s record to 16-8 overall and 2-6 in the ACC.
State’s first match of the weekend was against Boston College Friday, and the Red Terrors had little difficulty sending the Eagles flying home in sweeping fashion.
The dominant duo of senior Jaime Pulgar and freshman Robbie Mudge were able to put away the first doubles match with ease, finishing by an 8-1 count. Senior Julian Sullivan and sophomore Sean Weber were then able to claim the doubles point for State, winning 8-5 on court No. 1.
Singles didn’t get any easier for the Eagles. Junior Dave Thomson struck first for the Wolfpack , grabbing a 6-2, 6-1 victory at court six in just his second singles match of the season.
Holding a 2-0 lead, Sullivan added to the Pack’s score with a 6-1, 6-4 win at the No. 3 position. Mudge and fellow freshman Austin Powell came right in behind their senior leader with victories on courts four and five, respectively, clinching the match for N.C . State.
No. 1 player Pulgar and No. 2 senior Dominic Hodgson pulled out the final two matches of the day in three sets each to give the 7-0 victory to the Wolfpack .
On Saturday, the Pack faced off against ACC rival No. 75 Maryland, who provided more of a fight than the previous day’s opponent.
Wolfpack partners Hodgson and Powell struck first in doubles, taking an 8-5 victory from the Terrapins on court No. 3.
Despite a 8-5 doubles victory from Hodgson and Powell, the Pack’s recent struggles in doubles continued as UMD rolled through the two remaining doubles matches to take the doubles point.
State stepped its game up in six highly competitive singles matches, led by the senior trio on court. Sullivan and Pulgar came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, winning their matches 6-1, 6-4 and 6-2, 6-3 respectively to give State a 2-1 lead.
Hodgson followed up with a heated 7-6 (5), 6-4 win on court No. 2 that was critical to each team as the Pack took a 3-1 match lead over the Terps .
State needed a single win from Powell, Mudge or Thomson to clinch the match, but Maryland was determined not to let the match slip away.
Powell marked the first singles loss for State of the match, losing 6-4, 6-3 on court No. 4, leaving only Mudge and Thomson to battle for the victory.
Thomson won his first set easily at the sixth team position, 6-2, and seemed to be in control of the match. Up 5-3 late in the second set, Thomson was serving for the match when things went awry for the junior netter.
The Terrapin’s Tommy Laine battled back from a near loss to take the second set, 7-5, and had all momentum in his favor. Thomson was never able to bounce back as he lost the third set, 6-4, evening the match score at 3-3.
Mudge was the Pack’s last hope. Tensions ran high on court No. 5 as questionable calls and yelling ran rampant throughout the match. After exchanging words with his opponent, John Collins, following a 4-6 loss in the first set, Mudge was fired up and clearly had momentum in his favor as he took the second set by an uncontested 6-1 count.
However, Collins was able to regain his composure and fight back to break Mudge’s serve twice to take the third set, 6-3, and hand Maryland a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Wolfpack .
“I think today is a prefect example of what college tennis is and every match is important, especially in the ACC,” Pulgar said. “All the matches are tough and most of them are 4-3 or 3-4. I think today was an example of it.”
Head coach Jon Choboy had little reason to be upset with his players following the match, knowing that they are playing as hard as possible with the weight of the world on their backs.
“I think it was a well fought match. [Maryland] earned some of what they got, for sure,” Choboy said. “Some of it, we just need to be better in certain situations, but I’m not disappointed in my team.
“If we didn’t want to be in this situation, we should’ve lost 15 matches already and we wouldn’t have any pressure on us.”
Hodgson was disappointed with the outcome of the match, but is sure that the team will be ready for whatever the remainder of the season may throw its way.
“To be honest, it comes down to what happens at the end of the season in the ACC Tournament and the NCAA [Tournament], so we’ll bounce back,” Hodgson said. “I’m not worried about that. We’ll bounce back. Today wasn’t how our season is going to end.”