When you have a chance to secure your team’s 10th-straight win and clinch the best victory of the season so far, the pressure is on.

With No. 20 NC State men’s tennis (14-1, 6-0 ACC) and No. 15 Notre Dame (14-4, 4-2 ACC) all square at 3-3, one match remained — freshman Ainius Sabaliauskas versus Peter Nad. The Pack had won the doubles point in dominant fashion, having won in that category 14 of 15 opportunities this season. But on the singles courts, the Pack’s success was more moderate.

Notre Dame secured the win on Courts 1, 5 and 6 and looked like it was on the way to win Court 4 for the clinch. But the freshman Lithuanian had something to say about that.

Sabaliauskas fought off two match points in Set 2 to force a third set, and came through in the clutch for the win 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3.

“It feels amazing,” Sabaliauskas said. “Thanks to all the guys for the support. They were incredible, they gave me so much energy to play with. That was the main thing that kept me going.”

Built for the biggest moments 😛#PackRisin pic.twitter.com/JE8ITl26Ab

— NC State Men’s Tennis 🐺🎾 (@PackMensTennis) March 15, 2026

“It’s pretty clear that we got a lot of guys that love to compete,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “… It’s a high pressure situation. [Sabaliauskas] hasn’t been in that position, being last match on, but he handled it very well.”

Sabaliauskas’ clutch gene showed after he and his doubles partner, redshirt freshman Cody Benton, secured their fifth-straight win as a pair versus Noah Becker and Nicholas Patrick. The team has played some great tennis together despite the short amount of time they’ve been paired up, with Sabaliauskas joining the team this spring.

“It’s easy when he’s serving big,” Benton said. “It really helps out a bunch that both of us serve pretty well. And when we’re getting serves in, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”

Benton and Sabaliauskas said that the thing that has helped them build chemistry is Counter Strike, a first-person shooter video game. With a slight language barrier and short duration of being teammates, time spent together on the court as well as online has helped them flourish.

Another Wolfpack pairing that has been unstoppable is No. 85 senior Martin Borisiouk and redshirt sophomore Jules Leroux with a win streak of nine matches, defeating No. 52 Sebastian Dominko and Nad.

On singles Court 3, No. 110 Leroux picked up a much-needed win versus Giuseppe Cerasuolo 6-3, 6-1, keeping the Pack in the match when things were starting to slip in other spots. His doubles partner No. 13 Borisiouk did not fare so well, falling to No. 15 Sebastian Dominko in a frustrating two-set loss.

Securing his eighth-straight win in the singles, No. 97 redshirt sophomore William Manning beat No. 73 Perry Gregg 7-6(5), 6-2.

The Wolfpack also fell on Courts 5 and 6, with freshmen Charlie Camus and Darius Pop both having their win-streaks snapped.

The win over Notre Dame is the Pack’s top win so far, but maybe its biggest opportunity this season is yet to come.

“Our goal is to be playing our best tennis at the end,” Spencer said. “I’m not sure if we’ve been playing our best tennis yet, so thats a positive that weve had some nice outcomes, but we need to continue to keep doing the little things well and bring up our bottom level.”

The Pack will face No. 2 Virginia coming to town. The match is set to start at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 20.