No. 30 NC State men’s tennis suffered from the same issues it has had for the past month in the Athens Regional — poor doubles play and an inability to close out matches.
The Pack (17-8) was capable of overcoming those issues in the first-round matchup versus No. 48 Middle Tennessee (22-9) and won 4-2 as both No. 30 senior Martin Borisiouk and No. 118 redshirt sophomore Jules Leroux battled from a set down to win. But once again, the doubles point was a huge weakness, and NC State was playing behind the eight ball from the jump. In the second-round matchup versus No. 12 Georgia (20-8), that weakness proved costly as the Pack fell 4-0.
NC State 4, Middle Tennessee 2
Debuting brand new doubles teams on Courts 2 and 3, the Pack seemed to be searching for answers from the jump. Redshirt sophomore William Manning joined Leroux as the only continuing partnership, but even their experience together is limited, with this being their seventh match as a duo this season. That switch was made with a few matches left in the regular season.
But that switch split up the No. 18 duo in the country with Leroux and Borisiouk, who had only lost two matches together. Borisiouk joined Manning’s former partner, freshman Charlie Camus, and they had a record of 1-1 together.
“We’d lost a bunch of doubles points, so maybe some of the pairings weren’t doing what they needed to do and perform,” head coach Kyle Spencer said after the Wolfpack’s loss in the first round of the ACC Championships. “Whenever that happens, you gotta kind of shake it up a little bit.”
For the NCAA tournament, the big change was splitting up redshirt freshman Cody Benton and freshman Ainius Sabaliauskas — a pairing that had won six in a row before losing five in a row to conclude ACC play. Subsequently, Benton joined Borisiouk, and Sabaliauskas joined Camus.
Versus Middle Tennessee, that new lineup nearly pulled through with Camus and Sabaliauskas losing in a tie-break, 6-7(4), and Manning with Leroux losing 5-7. Benton and Borisiouk won on Court 2 6-4.
The Pack took the lead early in singles competition with Camus and freshman Darius Pop making quick work on Courts 5 and 6. But Manning fell on Court 3 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, and the score was even at 2-2.
Borisiouk and Leroux came through for the win on Courts 1 and 2 as they both came back after losing the first set. Borisiouk won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Leroux won 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1.
NC State 0, Georgia 4
The Pack got a rematch of last year’s regional, where it hosted and defeated Georgia to move on to the Super Regionals. But this time, the Pack was playing on the Bulldog’s home turf.
The doubles squads that made the opening point interesting in the first round struggled in the second, and both lost in quick fashion. Sabaliauskas and Camus fell 2-6, and Manning and Leroux soon joined them at the same score for a swift doubles loss. Against a higher-caliber team, the Pack could not afford to give up much ground.
Moving on to singles competition, the Pack had won five of six first sets and looked to rally, but Georgia began to turn the tide by winning the second set on every single court. Any hope of forging a comeback had been dashed as NC State battled away from home.
More ground was given up as Sabaliauskas lost on singles Court 4 to Derrick Chen 3-6, 2-6, and the Pack was down 2-0. Soon, Camus would fall to Noah Johnston 6-3, 4-6, 3-6 and the Pack was down to its last point.
Borisiouk looked to fend off No. 50 Arda Azkara in a final set tie-break and keep NC State’s season alive, but he couldn’t get it done. Azkara ended the Wolfpack’s season, handing Borisiouk a 6-3, 2-6, 6-7(2) loss.
Despite looking formidable for parts of the season, NC State couldn’t find its footing in doubles and fell in a mirrored result of last season, with Georgia hosting and moving on to the next round.
