With N.C. State’s ACC Tournament match tied 3-3, with only one singles match left to go, all senior Will Shaw could do was pace, not wanting to see his career end quite yet.
In that last match, sophomore No. 1 seed Nick Cavaday fought for the Wolfpack’s conference tournament future with Clemson’s Clement Reix who countered each of Cavaday’s strikes.
But with the match tied 4-4, Reix took over, beating Cavaday 6-4 and pushing the Tigers to a 4-3 win and ending the ACC careers of Shaw and Val Banada.
The match was a near complete reversal of the last time the teams met each other two weeks ago.
“We did the same thing to them two weeks ago, so we knew it was going to be a war,” coach Jon Choboy said. “But they’re one of the toughest teams in the country, and we think we are too. It was just a really hard fought match.”
State jumped out to an early lead by grabbing the doubles point on the wings of William Noblitt and Shaw’s comeback win, and Cavaday and freshman Jay Weinacker’s win.
Cavaday and Weinacker led for most of their doubles match, but the Tigers were able to even the score at 7-7 before State’s underclassmen pulled away.
“The last time we played them we lost the doubles point,” Weinacker said. “We knew we were really close and that we needed to just put it away and we did.”
Choboy said the team used the emotion off the doubles win as fuel going into the singles matches.
“It certainly helped because they were focused on what needed to be done,” Choboy said.
But things quickly turned the other way for the Pack, as No. 4 seed Shaw lost 6-3, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Noblitt lost 6-3, 6-3.
The Pack’s underclassmen kept them in the match, with Weinacker winning 6-3, 6-3, and freshman Chris Welte grabbing a 6-4, 6-1 win just minutes after Weinacker’s.
Welte has not been consistently in the Pack’s lineup, but Choboy said he has stepped up in several close matches.
“Chris has won in three-all situations twice this year, and has been a big boost for us,” Choboy said. “Jay has been consistent all year and hopefully he can be that way in NCAAs.”
After Banada’s 6-3, 6-4 loss at the number-two slot, the match came down to Cavaday.
Cavaday took the first set in tiebreaker 7-6, but lost the second set 6-3.
“I really did feel pretty good towards the end and after playing a tight first set, he really stepped it up,” Cavaday said of his opponent. “I put myself in a position to win, but just couldn’t do it.”
The loss still leaves questions as to whether the Pack will make the NCAAs or not, but Choboy said the team is still exuding confidence and is proud of its season.
“They have nothing to hang their heads about,” Choboy said. “They put themselves in a position to win and didn’t beat themselves. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
