The N.C. State men’s tennis team kicked off its spring season Friday playing in the Illini Invitational Tournament. The Pack claimed victories each day of the tournament.
After coming off of an impressive 20-10 campaign in which the team reached the NCAA tournament and eventually fell to Washington in the first round, the Pack will push for another stellar season.
In the second day of the Illini Invitational, the team collected six wins, claiming four singles and two doubles matches.
“We got a chance to test ourselves in a settling like we would in an ACC or NCAA tournament, where you have to play tough and come out the next day and play again,” head coach Jon Choboy said. “It gave everyone the idea of turning around quickly and playing again.”
Senior Dave Thompson and junior Sean Weber took on Illinois’ Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski in the day’s first matchup, defeating the pair, 8-3. After falling in the next doubles matchups, sophomore Austin Powell and freshman Thomas Weigel took on Alex Jesse and Brian Page. The duo of Powell and Weigel claimed the match, and doubles play, after an 8-3 victory.
“Doubles did a good job,” Choboy said. “We picked up a couple good double wins at the top and performed well.”
Illinois is currently ranked No. 16 while the Wolfpack is ranked No. 40, one spot lower than last year’s squad’s final ranking.
“It was really good to put the guys in some tough situations,” Choboy said. “Instead of being at home, and being comfortable, we really tested the guys out early. That’s what we wanted to do when we set our schedule last year.”
Weber defeated Florida’s Michael Afford 7-6, 7-6 in singles play on the first day of the tournament, the Pack’s only victory on day one.
Freshmen Trey Carter, Simon Norenius and Weigel, along with Powell, all claimed victories in singles play Saturday.
Choboy said the underclassmen, especially Weigal, did a “good job” of stepping up for the team this weekend.
“He had a real good taste of everything and performed quite well playing some pretty good players,” Choboy said. “It’s a real good experience for them to get their feet wet with that and I think they did pretty well.”
Carter won his matches 6-0 and 6-1, Norenius defeated his opponent 6-2, 5-7 and 6-4, Weigel took his matches 6-1 and 17-6, and Powell dominated his match, cruising to straight set victories, 6-4 and 6-0.
The team will travel to University Park, Pa., to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday.
“We’re playing on the road a lot this first month, so it was good to go there and get tested,” Choboy said. “I think that experience should benefit us. I’m glad we had this before we had to head up there [Penn State] and play them this coming weekend.”
