The most wins in school history — 20 — and a ranking of No. 34 in the nation is not supposed to draw a 10th seed in a conference tournament. That honor this year, however, goes to the men’s tennis team.
“The league as a whole is actually a little bit tougher than it’s ever been, and that’s a fact,” coach Jon Choboy said. “It’s a historical fact based on the number of nationally ranked teams and how highly ranked they are.”
With the 10th seed, N.C. State has drawn seventh-seeded Clemson in a rematch of an April 9 Wolfpack win. The victory was the first over the Tigers since 1978.
“They’re a good team, but we played them already and got a tough win here. So we know it’s like every other ACC match we played this year — it could’ve gone either way, so it’s going to be tough,” senior Will Shaw said.
The last time State won as many as 19 matches, the tennis complex’s namesake, coach J.W. Isenhour, patrolled the courts in 1978 and 1979.
“It’s certainly a good accomplishment,” Choboy said of the 20 wins. “The guys have done a great job and more than the 20 wins were the two road wins in the SEC. That could be up there as one of the best accomplishments of the season because it’s certainly not easy to do.”
Choboy also noted that ending the long drought over Clemson was an accomplishment in itself.
“Obviously, we have to put the win over Clemson in those accomplishments, as well. It’s good for the program,” Choboy said. “The guys did a good job and we feel good about it.”
Despite a record of 20-9 overall on the season, the Pack has only managed to gain three wins in the ACC. In addition, State has lost four of its last five matches, but according to the coaches, the recent losses are not a concern.
“We’re competing extremely well in the singles. We did take the doubles from Florida State, but I still feel like we can address the doubles situation and play six solid singles matches,” assistant coach Matt Halfpenny said. “If we focus more on playing high-percentage tennis and making the shots when we need to be making them, we’ll be very tough to beat.”
A first-round victory would put the Pack in a second-round match with defending ACC Tournament champion Virginia. State lost to Virginia 6-1 in the teams’ only meeting of the season, but has high expectations for the tournament coming into today.
“Shaw and I want to win it,” senior Val Banada said, referring to the only other senior on the team. “We haven’t gotten too far in the postseason or ACC Tournament yet, so I think beating Clemson again would probably make a statement to them and to the other schools that we’re for real.”
Looking beyond the ACC Tournament, State has an excellent chance at reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. State has overpowered six ranked teams, which includes two in the top 20.
The team credits this to not incurring any losing streaks longer than two games, which it was also able to avoid all last season until an eight-game skid to end the year.
“Last year, we lost several matches in a row, but when you show this consistency, it’s one of those things that gets you into the NCAA Tournament. And it’s also something that shows how your team is improving, so that’s one of our proudest statistics,” Choboy said. “Twenty wins is great and all, but we’ve been going up against some really great teams. And we haven’t lost three matches in a row the whole entire year.”
