Emma Dimig // Archive
Sophomore Tadas Babelis, playing second seed in singles against South Carolina, returns the ball at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 9. The men's tennis team lost their match against the Gamecocks 6-1, returning later in the day to beat the North Carolina A&T Aggies 7-0.
No. 33 NC State men’s tennis came out on top 7-0 against No. 27 University of Pennsylvania on Monday, grabbing its tenth win of the season at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The Wolfpack (10-3) started out strong against the Quakers (11-3) as it swept the doubles round with point differentials no less than three. Redshirt senior Michael Ogden and sophomore Tadas Babelis breezed past Penn opponents 6-1.
NC State had little difficulty in doubles, but despite the final score, the Pack soon found some stiff competition among singles matchups as sets went back and forth between opponents.
Babelis found himself down in his singles match 2-6 after the first set but came up on top 7-5 in the second after both opponents were tied at five apiece. Babelis ended up taking the win in the third at 6-3, giving the Wolfpack a 2-0 lead over Penn.
Junior Alexis Galarneau lost his first set in singles but finished 6-3 in the second, reversing the score of the first round. Galarneau had a substantial 4-1 lead in the third set before winning out 6-3 and grabbing another singles victory for the Pack with a 6-1 finish in the third round.
Senior Igor Saveljic gained his stride in the third as he fell 1-6 in the second after a 6-3 first set victory. Saveljic took the third set 6-4, putting NC State on top 4-0 over Penn.
After a split-set tie, freshman Yannai Barkai and his Penn opponent stood at 6-6 in the third round before Barkai took the 7-6 victory, extending his singles winning streak to seven and giving NC State a 5-0 lead.
Seniors Georgiy Malyshev and Ivan Saveljic were the only members of the Wolfpack to win out in two sets. Maylshev finished 6-3, 6-0 and Saveljic came away at 7-6, 6-2, putting the match away. Saveljic also managed to grab his 50th singles victory of his career.
NC State will look to extend its win streak to four as it heads to Stillwater, Oklahoma on Friday to take on No. 22 Oklahoma State before delving into a difficult group of opponents.
Including Oklahoma, the Wolfpack will face off against four ranked teams in its next five matches.