Team remains undefeated

The men’s tennis team is now 5-0, defeating Wilimington 7-0 and then Winthrop 6-1 on Sunday. During the doubles match against Wilimington, the Wolfpack won two out of its three matches. The only loss was No. 3 William Noblitt and Christian Welte losing 8-4 to Dennis Myers and Caio Piacentini. The team swept the Seahawks in singles play.

Against Winthrop sophomore Jay Weinacker and senior Andre Iriarte won their first doubles match together. Iriarte, played in place of freshman James McGee, who is still recovering from an ankle sprain. The only loss occurred when State senior William Noblitt lost his singles match to Rodrigo Santo. Noblitt lost the first set, took the second, then lost the match tiebreaker.

Noblitt said it was a tough match, but he knows he could do better.

“I didn’t play as well as I am capable of,” Noblitt said. “I struggled a little bit early, then I started playing better. Then it came down to match tie break, which can go either way. The team did get the win today, so that’s the main thing.”

Coach Jon Choboy said Noblitt’s opponent just played the better match.

“He was just impatient. The guy didn’t miss many balls, and Noblitt was making some errors that he usually doesn’t make,” Choboy said. “William doesn’t usually make mistakes — made some mistakes, and that cost him the match. Basically it was just one guy playing better tennis, and William didn’t do it. He competed well, but he didn’t play to his abilities — made too many errors.”

Jay Weinacker played in his first matches of 2007, defeating all of his opponents in doubles and singles. He said he felt pretty good about his performance.

“I tried to get into a groove since I had not had any matches,” Weinacker said. “I think I did a very good job of that today, played pretty smart tennis and didn’t go for a lot, but when I had the opportunity, I took advantage of it. So I felt pretty good.”

Choboy said he was pleased with the overall performance of the team, especially Weinacker.

“Today was even better than the other matches,” he said. “I feel like doubles was sharper. Having Jay back in there, obviously he didn’t play last weekend. He was a pretty big spark plug. He makes a big difference for the team, but also the whole energy out here is better when he’s playing. He played doubles today too, and I think they were just sharper, cleaner, better basics, so I was pretty happy with that.”

The Pack’s next match is Sunday Feb. 11 at home against Pennsylvania. The match starts at 1 p.m.