Though the N.C. State men’s tennis team failed to qualify for the NCAA Team Championships, three members of the Wolfpack participated in the Individual Championships this past week in Athens, Ga.
Junior Austin Powell and the team of junior Robbie Mudge and freshman Ian Dempster represented N.C. State in the Singles and Doubles Championships, respectively. Though Powell was ousted in the opening round, Mudge and Dempster managed to fight all the way to the Round of 16 before being dropped by their opponent.
Powell was the first to take the court at the Championships. The junior was matched against junior Jonny Wang of the University of Southern California, winner of the 2014 Team Championships. Entering the match, Wang was ranked 57th in the nation, while Powell sat at No. 56.
The match started off in Powell’s favor. The Muscle Shoals, Ala. native broke Wang’s serve to take a 3-1 lead. However, the Trojan responded swiftly, winning four straight matches to move in front by two. Despite winning the next point, Powell could not break Wang’s serve a second time and fell, 6-4, in the opening set.
During the 2014 season, Powell went 2-12 after losing the first set. Conversely, Wang was 18-1 when heading into the second set with a 1-0 lead.
Wang smelt blood at the start of the second set, breaking Powell’s serve twice to win four straight sets. Despite battling back to shorten the deficit to 4-3, Powell couldn’t hang with Wang’s serve, falling to the Trojan, 6-4, 6-3.
Despite the early exit, Powell had a successful season as a whole. The junior recorded a team-high 24 wins, including five against ranked opponents.
Mudge and Dempster took the court Thursday to face Baylor’s No. 21 pairing of senior Patrick Pradella and junior Mate Zsiga. The Pack team was the underdog of the matchup, ranked 29th in the nation heading into the contest.
Both sets were tightly contested, with the second ending in a seven-point tiebreak. In the end, Mudge and Dempster edged the Bears’ duo to take the opening match, 6-4, 7-6 (7). With the win, the pair tied the N.C. State record for most doubles wins in a single season at 20.
The Wolfpack duo could not break that record, however, as the team fell the next day to juniors Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton of California-Berkley, ranked 21st in the nation.
Mudge and Dempster took the first set by a score of 7-5. Both teams battled back and forth with ferocity, with no broken serves through the first 10 sets. The Pack duo was able to break to go up 6-5, and Dempster served out the set to go up 1-0.
However, the Golden Bear duo put the pedal to the medal in the second set, burning the Pack duo, 6-2, to tie the match at one set apiece.
In the final set, teams held serves through the first eight sets, but the Pack pairing was able to break to take a 5-4 lead. Mudge and Dempster couldn’t close, however, as the Golden Bears responded with a break of their own. After heading to a tiebreak, Bayane and Melton proved to be too much, as they took the final set and the game, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Even with the loss, Mudge and Dempster made their mark on N.C. State history, despite not playing together for the entire season.
