During the second day of the Residence Inn North Wolfpack Invitational on Saturday, sophomore Jay Weinacker was down 4-3 heading into the second set after losing the first. After a pep talk from coach Jon Choboy, Weinacker won the last two points of the set and eventually took the match.
But Weinacker, who also won on Friday, wouldn’t have enough left to pull off the victory in Sunday’s championship as Elon’s Damon Gooch won the tournament with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win against him in the final match of the tournament.
Weinacker’s win in his Saturday match came against Mason Schermerhorn, a former N.C. State tennis player who transferred to Elon last year.
Weinacker talked about what Choboy said to him during the middle of the second set.
“He just said basically when I’m playing my best is when I’m having a positive attitude, and I was yelling at myself and was getting really frustrated that I was losing because he was a player that played on our team last year, and I really didn’t want to lose to him. And he said don’t worry about that — don’t think about winning or losing — just play one point at a time and play your tennis. And eventually I got it back and took advantage of it, so it was good advice,” Weinacker said.
Weinacker said he was relieved the match was over and won.
“It feels good now to be over with now, but I was really upset with myself losing the first set and then even down a second set I was still really upset with myself. But Coach helped me out and made me realize that [it] wasn’t making me play any better and changed my attitude a little bit. And then [I] started playing better, and then it felt good once I started getting on a roll,” Weinacker said.
Choboy said Weinacker was distracted during the second set.
“He was kind of focused on things that weren’t related to matches that angered him. The style of game that was being played wasn’t there. That was frustrating,” Choboy said.
He further commented on how he helped get Weinacker back on track.
“We just told him to play his game and had a couple of minor adjustments, but he’s capable of playing that way. So the last set and a half, that’s how he played tennis, and so I just told him to play his game and whatever happens, happens. And once he got on top of it. It was all over, and he was good to go,” he said.
The match helped move Weinacker past the Flight A semifinal round and into Sunday’s final.
Sophomore Chris Welte also won his first match. In his second match, he won the first set but lost the second. He was down 4-1 in the third set, but with a bit of motivation he won three points before losing the set. He lost the match to Gooch, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals.
Welte talked about what kept him motivated when things seemed tough.
“I was down 4-1 in the third set. Just you never know. You just got to keep playing, keep plugging away. He got up on me pretty early on me in the third, and I just tried to fight back in the break,” Welte said. “And then he got up a second break. And then I knew when it was 4-1, I was just like you just got to keep fighting and anything can happen.”
Welte and Weinacker also played in the doubles semifinals, but lost to Davidson’s Ethan Jaffee and Smihaian Flaviu, 8-6.
The Wolfpack’s next tournament will be the UNC Fall Invitational on Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
