Fresh off its second consecutive postseason appearance and first NCAA Tournament victory since 2007, the N.C. State men’s tennis team is primed for further success as the 2014 dual match season approaches.
The Wolfpack, under the direction of 12th-year head coach Jon Choboy, defeated Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year before falling to then-No. 14 Oklahoma. The Pack returns five of six starters from last year’s team, losing only Dave Thomson to graduation.
State opens its season with two home matches on Friday, first hosting UNC-Greensboro at 10 a.m. followed by a match against North Carolina Central at 2 p.m. Both matches will be played indoors at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The ACC, considered one of the nation’s top conferences for men’s tennis, features three teams ranked in the Top 25. They include No. 1 Virginia, the defending national champion, as well as No. 19 Wake Forest and No. 23 Clemson. The Wolfpack begin this season ranked No. 35. Other ranked ACC schools include No. 36 Florida State, No. 38 Virginia Tech, No. 43 UNC-Chapel Hill and No. 55 Miami.
The Wolfpack sprinted through its tune-up event last weekend, winning 17 of 18 singles matches and 13 of 16 doubles matches at the Wolfpack Invite in Raleigh, where it hosted Elon and William & Mary.
“It was good for our young guys especially, they haven’t had a chance to play in the team format yet,” senior Sean Weber said after the event. “It was good for them to get some matches under their belt.”
Weber is the only senior in Choboy’s top six lineup. Juniors Austin Powell and Robbie Mudge, sophomores Thomas Weigel and Simon Norenius and freshman Nick Horton will likely make up the singles ladder for most matches this season.
Powell is the team’s most accomplished player, having advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., in Oct. 2013.
“[Individual matches] are a lot lower key than team matches,” Powell said of the tournament. “You don’t have guys behind the fence trying to get under your skin. It’s a lot more under control.”
This will be the first year of a new scoring system put forth by the NCAA. Matches will still consist of nine contests, three doubles and six singles, but doubles matches will now be a first to six games rather than the customary eight, with a tiebreaker to be played if the score reaches five-all. Singles matches are still two out of three sets but will also feature a tiebreak at five-all.
For both singles and doubles matches, the NCAA has eliminated advantages at deuce, or 40-all. Should a game reach that score, the winner of the next point will win the game.
“[These changes] favor players who can stay composed in pressure situations. There are a lot more big points,” Weber said. “It kind of takes fitness out of the equation a little bit, but we have a lot of guys who want to be in that situation so they can get it done.”
