Emma Dimig // Archive
Sophomore Tadas Babelis, playing second seed in singles against the South Carolina Gamecocks, returns the ball to his opponent at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019. 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.
The 14th-ranked NC State men’s tennis team moved to 8-0 after handing the Princeton Tigers their first loss of the season. The team traveled to Princeton, New Jersey after sweeping the University of Pennsylvania, 4-0 Saturday. The Wolfpack finished its weekend with another comfortable win over the Tigers 4-1. The Tigers were 4-0 with two 7-0 sweeps before playing the Pack on Sunday.
The Wolfpack secured its first point of the match by winning two of the three doubles matches. This was no easy task against a Princeton team that has the No. 13 and No. 58-ranked doubles teams in the country. Junior Tadas Babelis and sophomore Yannai Barkai, the No. 32-ranked doubles team in the country, won the first doubles match of the day taking down the No. 13 doubles team of junior Ryan Seggerman and senior Payton Holden. After losing the second doubles match of the day, the Wolfpack turned it around to clinch the point when senior Alexis Galarneau and junior Robert Turzak won 6-4. This came over a Princeton team that to this point was 11-1 on the season in doubles matches.
In singles, sophomore Rafa Izquierdo Luque made quick work of his match winning 6-0, 6-0 and giving NC State the 2-0 lead. Then, Galarneau finished up his match in straight sets winning 6-3, 6-2 which put the Pack one point away from clinching the win. After Princeton scored its only point of the day, the Wolfpack finished up the Tigers when freshman Martins Rocens won his match in a second-set tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
NC State head coach Kyle Spencer acknowledged the Pack’s tremendous showing this weekend.
“We challenge them on the schedule with two top teams in back-to-back days and different venues and couldn’t be prouder of how they responded to that challenge,” Spencer said.
The Wolfpack will return to action on Feb. 14 when it takes part in the ITA National Men’s Indoor Championship in Madison, Wisconsin. This will be the first appearance at the tournament for the men’s team in program history.