Two N.C. State men’s tennis players made their collegiate debut this weekend at the UNC Fall Invitational, but they did so from opposite ends of the student spectrum.
Freshman Frideric Prandecki and graduate student Daniel Schinke both played in their first matches at the college level at the Chapel Hill tournament.
The pair joined Wolfpack junior David Rozek in playing in the three-day invitational tournament, which included singles and doubles play.
State assistant coach Jeff Kader accompanied the Pack’s trio for the weekend.
“[Prandecki and Schinke] were a little nervous going out there,” Kader said. “They played well in their first matches, but there were definitely some nerves. Frideric came to me and said, ‘Coach, I’m really nervous,’ and that was when he was winning. I just told him to relax.”
The tournament featured six different flights or brackets, each with 16 players — two A flights, two B flights and two C flights.
Kader said the different brackets were organized based on skill, with the higher-ranked players competing in the A flights.
Rozek, Prandecki and Schinke each won his respective opening round match-up on Friday.
Rozek defeated Richmond’s Matt Stillwagon 6-3, 6-4 in the Green B-1 flight. Prandecki downed Wofford’s Austin Webb 6-2, 7-5 in the Orange C-1 flight. Dave Perren of High Point fell to Schinke 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the Red C-2 flight.
“It’s great for those two guys to get wins in their first matches,” Kader said. “To get a win right away, some guys go a while before getting their first win.”
Also on the first day, the doubles team of Prandecki and Rozek defeated South Carolina’s Yevgeny Supeko and David Wolf 8-4, before falling 8-0 in the second round to East Tennessee State’s pair of Lisandro Picardo and Felix Insaurralde.
Unfortunately for the Pack, all three players bowed out of the tournament on Saturday in the second round.
South Carolina’s Spencer Feldman defeated Rozek 6-1, 6-3 in the Green B-1 flight. South Carolina State’s Prantap Chatverdi bested Prandecki 7-6(5), 6-1 in the Orange C-1 flight, and Schinke fell to Temple’s Philip Gegheimer 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the Red C-2 flight.
Kader attributed the losses to a combination of facing tougher competition in the second round of the tournament and not getting all the breaks.
“Sometimes things just don’t go your way, and that’s just how it is,” Kader said. “On the second day, our guys were facing better players than on the first day, and then sometimes things just don’t go your way.”
Despite the losses, Kader said the guys played well overall.
“It’s good to see where we stand,” he said.
Kader said it was an especially good experience for Prandecki and Schinke, since they got to see their first collegiate action.
“It was good to see the things they do well and the things we need to work on,” Kader said. “Seeing how they play in something other than practice was really good. I thought they did well. They were really receptive to the things I was trying to tell to help, and that’s always important.”
“It definitely was a good experience, especially for the guys who hadn’t played. It’s a good stepping stone for them both mentally and physically as far as seeing where they need to go to compete on the college level.”
