For the men’s tennis team, Wednesday’s match against Duke was more than just Tobacco Road rivals hitting the tennis court. It was about starting the week fresh after a 1-2 showing at the Blue Gray Invitational this past weekend in Alabama. It meant finally getting a close win. Four out of the last five of the Wolfpack’s matches coming into Wednesday’s match were decided by one point, with State losing 4-3.

State began the match by losing the doubles point. Singles play started out positive for the Pack, with sophomore James McGee wining his match, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 1. The sophomore said he felt pretty good about his performance.

“I was aggressive, I mixed things up well and I didn’t really give the other guy a rhythm,” McGee said. “So, I was pretty happy with my performance.”

Junior Jay Weinacker and senior Nick Cavaday both lost their matches, which gave the Blue Devils the advantage 3-1.

State would begin a comeback, as junior transfer Derek Stephens and freshman David Chermak both won their matches, and the Pack tied the Devils three-all. Again the match would be decided by one point, this time falling on junior Christian Welte, who took his match to a third set after being down one.

“It’s unrealistic that it’s going to come down to your match,” Welte said. “McGee won while I was at 3-2 on my first set, which was an absolute joke. Chermak put in a pretty good performance, Derek did well. I felt good about my game, but it didn’t come through today.”

Welte, who said he has been sick since returning to North Carolina from the Blue Gray Tennis Classic, lost his first set and came back in the second. He was down 2-5 in the third set, before he stormed back to make it 6-6. The tiebreak to determine the winner featured intense moments between the players and coaches, as at one point, a controversial call was being disputed by Duke’s coach Jay Lapidus and the officials. State coach Jon Choboy explained the call after the match.

“The dispute was when Christian hit the ball, somebody celebrated and they said it was Christian,” Choboy said. “I think it was somebody in the crowd that said, ‘Yeah, come on.’ If your opponent is the one that does that before the point is over, it’s called a hindrance and you have to play that point over. The referee deemed, and I agreed with him 100 percent, that it didn’t affect the point.”

The argument between the coaches, players and referees went on for a few minutes. Welte said that it wasn’t much of a problem for him and said that the Duke coach’s argument didn’t help his player.

“He could have said something for maybe 20 seconds but he went on for three minutes,” Welte said. “It surely affected his player more than mine. It’s the way it goes.”

Welte would eventually lose the third set 7-6, giving Duke the match 4-3. State has now lost six matches by one point, which Choboy said is disappointing.

“We fought hard,” Choboy said. “Obviously every 4-3 situation that we’ve lost this year, which we lost them all, have been like this. We’re up in the tie-breaker, third set, 5-2. And we couldn’t get it. That’s the difference in the match for not getting the doubles point.”

Despite the loss, Choboy was pleased with Welte’s performance.

“He put us in a position to win and we’ve been in this position several times already this year,” Choboy said. “We just have to keep hustling and we have to keep our head up and we’ll get ours. We just have to keep working.”

McGee echoed the coach’s feelings.

“I thought it was an absolutely fantastic effort, considering he was sick, considering cramping, considering he wasn’t enjoying it too much,” McGee said. “It was absolutely a great effort on his part. The other guy just played solid and got lucky. I feel for Welte and I know that the next match, when he’s in that situation, he’ll win for sure.”

State will continue its five-game ACC home stand with Maryland on Saturday. If it we’re to come down to one match, Welte said the team has to be ready, and is learning from all of its 4-3 losses.

“We lost to Wake 7-5 in the third, [to] Bama, Notre Dame, [and] Indiana,” Welte said. “You can go down the line. We are putting ourselves in the right spots to win. If we keep doing this everyday, sooner or later, it’s going to turn our way.”