Four players from the NC State tennis program competed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships last week.
On the men’s side, sophomore Alexis Galarneau played singles, and partnered with redshirt junior Michael Ogden for doubles. Junior Claudia Wiktorin and sophomore Anna Rogers represented the Wolfpack for women’s doubles.
Galarneau is currently ranked 43rd in the nation, and is the first NC State tennis player to make it past the round of 16 in the ITA championships.
Galarneau blew through the first three rounds of the tournament with straight-set wins in every match. In the round of 64, Galarneau defeated No. 21 Wayne Montgomery from Georgia 6-2, 7-6, moving onto the round of 16, where he defeated No.104 Alex Lebedev from Notre Dame 6-3, 6-3.
Although Galarneau was defeated in the quarterfinals by No. 5 William Blumberg from UNC-Chapel Hill, his victory over Lebedev guaranteed an entry into the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which will take place Nov. 1-5 in Indian Wells, California. NC State men’s assistant coach Cris James said he was proud of Galarneau’s progress in the championship.
“Not only did he advance to the final eight, he also implemented a lot of stuff we’ve been working this fall,” James told NC State Athletics. “He showed he can be among the nation’s elite players already, and there are still plenty of areas for improvement. We’ll be excited to get back on the practice court and in the gym this week to get better.”
Ogden joined Galarneau for men’s doubles. The team, ranked No. 14, was defeated 6-2, 6-4, by No. 5 Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez from Florida. Galarneau and Ogden were also defeated in a consolation doubles round by No. 29 Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn of Louisville, 6-4, 7-6.
Wiktorin and Rogers made it to the quarterfinals in the women’s doubles tournament before being defeated by No. 25 Ellyse Hamlin and Kaitlyn McCarthy from Duke University.
Wiktorin and Rogers, ranked 26th, are only the second team in the history of NC State’s women’s tennis program to make it to the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships. The team defeated the No. 4 and No. 16 ranked teams to make it to the quarterfinals round.
Pack women’s assistant coach David Secker said that despite the loss in the quarterfinals, he was pleased with the doubles team’s overall performance.
“Overall a productive tournament,” Secker told NC State Athletics. “Early in the season to go up against the best in college tennis — was encouraging to see where we are at and what we need to address as we come home to the practice courts to prepare for regionals.”
