The No. 49 men’s tennis team begins its spring season this afternoon against UNC- Wilmington at 5 p.m. at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.  

Coach Jon Choboy said the team is solid and ready for the season to begin.

“We had a long practice on Saturday to prepare for UNCW,” he said. “These guys are really looking forward to it.”

UNCW’s head coach, Mait DuBois, used to be assistant coach at N.C. State, making the match an interesting match-up, according to senior Jay Weinacker.

“UNCW is a really good team,” Weinacker said. “Mait knows a lot about our team and Jon knows a lot about Mait so it will be a really good match-up for us to get the season underway.”

Weinacker and senior Chris Welte are the No. 4 ranked doubles team in the mid-east. Both are seniors and leaders on the team, according to Choboy.

Looking back on the fall season, Weinacker was pleased with his efforts.

“During the Penn State tournament I got two ranked wins, one of which I had lost to twice before,” Weinacker said. “That was good step for me and shows that I have improved from last year.”

Improvements across the board are the focus for the team this season, Choboy said.

“We’ve worked a lot on more mental toughness and the physicality of the sport,” Choboy said. “Let me just say the guys ran lots of football stadiums this fall.”

Besides conditioning, Weinacker said he has been working on creating points.

“In past falls I have been working on a lot of technical stuff in my game,” Weinacker said. “But now I’m a senior– there isn’t much else I need to work on technically. Now we’re just focusing on constructing points in my matches.”

Welte, ranked No. 125 in the preseason standings, said the fall really helped him move forward in his game.

“I played in four tournaments this fall,” Welte said. “I gained a lot of confidence and I really felt myself progressing.”

Welte said he will look to continue that progress in the spring for himself and the team.

“Our team is really young in the back of the line-up,” Welte said. “But if we really put in the work, the sky is the limit for us.”

Weinacker, who feels like the team has NCAA tournament possibilities, expects to improve from last year.

“We need to make the NCAA tournament, and I think we can this year,” Weinacker said. “Also there are a few schools in the ACC that I’ve never beaten and I want to do that this year, since it’s my last chance.”

Overall, Choboy said he is excited for the season to get underway.

“We’ve got a pretty solid team and I just want to see what these guys can do with it the season,” he said.