The opener of the spring season for the men’s tennis team proved very successful for the Wolfpack. In Sunday’s back-to-back matches at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center State, swept both Gardner Webb and N.C. Central University, 7-0.
The entire team was excited to kick off its spring match season, especially with the positive outcome. It was nice to finally see how the predominantly young team performed during matches, according to coach Jon Choboy.
“It went well,” Choboy said. “It’s one thing to see it in practice, but it’s another to see it in action and it looked good.”
With such an inexperienced team, playing two matches could be difficult, yet the scores proved otherwise. The team only dropped two sets the entire day.
“In this situation you wonder where the pops and leaks are going to come, but it didn’t really happen,” Choboy said. “This team may be the most cohesive I’ve ever had.”
As the most veteran leaders on the team, doubles duo Frideric Prandecki and Rob Lowe dominated Gardner-Webb 8-1 at the No. 2 spot and NCCU 8-4 at the No. 1 spot.
“Rob and Freddy are our two oldest guys and they played like that,” Choboy said. “They did a real good job in doubles especially. Their talent was matched by good decision-making, something the newer guys still need to learn.”
The real story of the day came from sophomore Dominic Hodgson. Hodgson joined the team last January yet had to sit out before he was eligible to compete for the Wolfpack. Sunday’s match marked his first for N.C. State, something he has been waiting 14 months to do.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to play for State,” Hodgson said. “I couldn’t wait to dig my teeth in it.”
Hodgson’s first match at No. 1 singles against Evgeny Slesarev of Gardner-Webb ended with a loss, 0-6. Hodgson came back, however, to win the match 6-4, 6-4.
“I was nervous to say the least,” Hodgson said. “It took me a while to get going. I got my strokes back in the second [set] and ran with it in the third and fortunately it was enough to win.”
Hodgson’s match was a standout performance for the entire day, according to Choboy.
“I knew this could be a really good test for him,” Choboy said. “He’s a good player. He was nervous, but he handled himself well. What was impressive about him was he had to win by competing. He just hung in there and [his game] came around.”
Not only did State’s record improve to 2-0 on Sunday, so did its roster. Rafael Paez, a Brazil native, joined the team last week. After only being in the United States for a few days, Paez was on the court competing for the Wolfpack.
Paez managed to win both of his singles matches, defeating Rafael Altmayer of Gardner-Webb 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 4 spot and Alejandro Espitia of NCCU 6-2, 6-1.
“I was a bit nervous and [my opponents] were good,” Paez said. “So I had to dig deep mentally, and I had the pressure of the team too. But the guys have given me all the support needed to win.”
The Pack will swing back into action on Friday at 4 p.m. as it takes on Vanderbilt and on Sunday it takes on Michigan.
“Next week we have two very important matches,” Hodgson said. “And these wins help to build confidence.”
