Ronald Nause
Like Gettysburg was the turning point of the Civil War, the fall tournaments in last October may have been the turning points of Jay Weinacker’s freshman year and the fuel he needed to launch his war against ACC foes.
He won his bracket at the season-opening Residence Inn North Wolfpack Invitational, but Weinacker would later experience a feeling he was not familiar with during his junior career just one month later in Columbia, S.C. — losing.
“I went to the next two tournaments and didn’t win a match, and it was like ‘Welcome to the ACC,'” Weinacker said. “I had to learn from that; that every match was going to be tough.”
He is in the midst of an undefeated ACC campaign and has a 16-1 overall singles record, all 16 wins coming in straight set wins.
“That helped a lot in the fall, to get that into my head,” Weinacker said. “Because in the spring I knew I was going to have to come out and play every match.”
Weinacker entertained several goals for his first season at N.C. State before he arrived from his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.
“I wanted to be playing for the team first of all,” Weinacker said. “I told my dad that I want to try to go undefeated in the ACC — that’s the goal that I am working on right now.”
The thought of an unblemished conference record has come as Weinacker has been under the tutelage of assistant coach Matt Halfpenny, who has helped the Wolfpack to a 16-3 start and is in his sixth year at State.
“One of the things that we needed to improve on with Jay was his ability to play at the net,” Halfpenny said. “We had been working on that a tremendous amount with him.”
Weinacker has noticed the improvement in his game that has come from his training with the coaching staff.
“We’ve really started to tighten up on volleys and work on those, and coaches are staying on to me about that,” Weinacker said. “I think that’s the part of my game that has improved the most because we worked on it the most since I got here.”
Weinacker’s teammates credit his high level of maturity for some of the success he has enjoyed as a freshman and consistent starter on the team.
“He’s got quite a mature head on his shoulders. He does things the right way already,” senior Will Shaw said. “It’s like he’s been here for a long time and he’s doing things the right way, which isn’t always the case for freshmen.”
Jay’s father, Jimmy Weinacker, said the maturity came at the onset of his high school career.
“He decided in ninth grade that he wanted to play college tennis, and that’s when his maturity started to arrive,” Jimmy Weinacker said. “When he puts his mind to something, he can get it done.”
Despite his success and the respect he has earned from teammates, Weinacker has managed to remain casual about his play while remaining ultra-competitive.
“He’s very competitive, but he balances it out making you feel comfortable around him,” senior Val Banada said. “He doesn’t make you feel any lower than him, but when you’re on the court, you compete against each other pretty seriously — he doesn’t take anything for a joke.”
“He is very fun-loving, very fun-spirited, but very competitive,” Jimmy Weinacker said. “He just enjoys competing.”
Whether he’s holding a racquet or an Xbox controller, Weinacker relishes competition, no matter the arena.
“He’s up for anything if you want to do anything with him, play video games or whatever — we play Halo a lot,” Banada said.
“Halo 2 is huge. I just got Xbox 360,” Weinacker said. “In the fall, I got to play a lot more. Now, I haven’t played in two weeks just because we’re so busy right now because we’re in season.”
There is a consensus on the team that Weinacker has improved since the fall tournaments.
“When he first came on campus, we all knew he was one of the top players in the South,” Shaw said. “He’s really come on a lot since he’s been here, and he’s gotten a lot stronger.”
Weinacker embraces a work ethic and approaches matches in a way unique from most other freshmen.
“He has shown to his teammates, freshman or not, it doesn’t really matter,” Halfpenny said. “He is going out there and performing without any fear, and that is certainly something that we appreciate him bringing to this team.”
Perhaps the fear is eliminated the night before a match when Weinacker goes through his personal scouting report of opponents.
“If I know anything about the person I’m playing, I like to write down some notes and read them the night before a match to get in the mindset,” Weinacker said. “Right before a match, I don’t really like to talk about the match too much, and [I] just relax and do something else to get the match off my mind.”
Additionally, Weinacker’s approach incorporates a blue-collar element echoed by his teammates.
“He works hard and plays hard, whenever he’s on the court or [in] practice,” Shaw said. “In the match, he’s going to give you 100 percent because that’s the kind of guy he is.”
Coach Halfpenny likens Weinacker’s all-court style of play to a former Wolfpack standout, now a volunteer assistant coach and professional player.
“Certainly, he has the potential to go very far in the NCAA Tournament in singles, and that’s a goal of ours,” Halfpenny said. “He reminds us a lot of one of our former players, Chris Drake.”
The coaches also recognize Weinacker’s rare blend of exceptional talent and willing work ethic, and hope they can transform Weinacker into a gem of a player.
“We certainly are going to push him and make sure he accomplishes those goals or comes as close as to accomplishing those goals as he can,” Halfpenny said.