CHAPEL HILL — The men’s tennis team opened a five-match road trip with a drive to Chapel Hill on Wednesday, where it lost 5-2 against No. 10 North Carolina.
N.C. State was excited about facing off against its rival, according to junior Derek Stephens.
“In my opinion, it’s more than a rivalry,” he said. “It’s a livelihood in a way, but we look forward to it every time we do it.”
Despite the enthusiasm, the Wolfpack, which came into the important ACC match ranked No. 44 and on a four-match winning streak, could not get any momentum going against the Tar Heels, according to coach Jon Choboy.
“[Carolina was] a little more ready, a little more pumped up than we were,” Choboy said. “They took [the match] away from us.”
To start the match, State lost all three doubles matches, allowing UNC to score the doubles point.
The No. 1 doubles tandem, senior Nick Cavaday and junior Jay Weinacker, faced off against Carolina’s Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney. State’s pair entered the match at No. 9, while the Heels duo came in No. 10. Despite the close rankings, Fogleman and Kearney won 8-2, controlling much of the action.
“We missed a couple of balls at the wrong time,” Choboy said. “We’ve got to get a little better at being cleaner throughout the entire match.”
The other two doubles matches saw State drop close decisions, with sophomore James McGee and junior Christian Welte losing 9-7 and freshman David Chermak and junior Derek Stephens falling 8-6.
“We played a few sloppy points,” Welte said. “We missed two careless volleys, and then they broke us. But it was a pretty solid doubles match.”
In singles, the Pack’s luck did not change much, with four of the six matches going in the Tar Heels’ favor. The lone bright spots for the Pack were at the No. 3 and 5 slots, with Weinacker and Stephens picking up wins.
Weinacker won a three set thriller, coming back after being down a set.
Stephens’ match also proved exciting, as it went to a two-set tiebreak. Stephens and Carolina’s Fogleman would battle for more than 30 minutes, with Stephens pulling out a 16-14 squeaker.
“It was just a battle, back and forth,” Stephens said. “In the tiebreaker, he got up early, but I fought back and just played. I started playing more aggressive and looser.”
Although Carolina wrapped up the team win and remained undefeated in the ACC, Choboy said the Wolfpack played well, with the exception of a few crucial errors.
“We’ve beaten top-10 teams before,” he said. “I think in some ways we gave the match [to Carolina].”
