No. 15 NC State men’s tennis got a pair of conference wins this weekend, taking down Florida State and No. 44 Miami. While both teams are in the bottom half of the conference, no win can be taken for granted in the highly competitive ACC.
“After an ACC weekend against two talented teams, we are happy to come out 2-0,” assistant coach Cris James told NC State Athletics. “We know we can play a little better in some spots, but overall we did a good job and had some bright spots.”
On Friday afternoon, the Wolfpack (8-4, 6-1 ACC) started its weekend against Florida State. The Seminoles have struggled this season in ACC play, entering this weekend’s play winless in four matches against conference opponents.
The doubles point was easily taken by the Wolfpack. The first doubles set it took was a quick win by No. 9 senior Tadas Babelis and junior Yannai Barkai. They took down their opponents 6-4. The second win needed by the Pack to clinch the doubles point came from No. 23 fifth year Alexis Galarneau and senior Robert Turzak. They won their set 6-2.
With the doubles point in hand, the Pack had all the momentum heading into singles play. No. 7 Galarneau was the first to finish when he beat his opponent 6-2, 6-3. It was a pretty convincing victory over Florida State’s only ranked player and the No. 77 ranked singles player in the nation. Junior Rafa Izquierdo Luque and Turzak finished shortly after, both sweeping their opponents in straight sets. With the pair of singles victories, NC State clinched the 4-0 victory over Florida State.
NC State had little time to rest as it would take on Miami Saturday afternoon. However, it showed no signs of tiring as it got off to another hot start in doubles play. Babelis and Barkai were again the first to finish and, for the second time in the weekend, put the Wolfpack one doubles set away from the doubles point. However, this time the doubles point was secured by sophomore Robin Catry and senior Collin Shick.
Catry would go on to finish first in singles play, falling to his opponent 6-1, 6-2. However, the Pack would carry the momentum the rest of the way. It would easily take the next two matches as sophomore Martins Rocens and Turzak would easily cruise to two-set victories.
At that point the Pack was up 3-1 over Miami, but the match was tight enough that it would not be a cakewalk to victory. With Galarneau in a three-set battle and Babelis going to a tiebreaker in each of his first two sets, the easiest path to victory for the Wolfpack would be through Izquierdo Luque. After dominating the first set, 6-1, Izquierdo Luque was taken to a tiebreaker in his second set. After a back and forth tiebreaker Izquierdo Luque won his match 6-1, 7-6 (7) and secured the 4-1 victory for NC State.
Next up for NC State is a pair of nonconference matches during the week. It will take on Presbytarian on Tuesday, March 16 before heading to South Carolina for a match on Friday, March 19. NC State will look to build upon what has become a significant four-game winning streak.
