After a promising performance at the ITA All-American Tennis Championships, the Wolfpack tennis team is looking to hold serve at the Carolina ITA Regional Championships in Chapel Hill, a tournament that will feature players from schools such as UNC, UNC Greensboro and Duke.
According to junior Jaime Pulgar, the competition at the All-American tournament was some of the best he has ever faced and he does not expect a letdown in his performance at the Regional Tournament.
“I’m in good shape and ready to play in the regional tournament,” Pulgar said. “We used to have [the] top player in the region, but they switched it, so now we have a chance to do better. Still, [there are] four or five really good players, so I hope we do good and make it to the final round.”
In the main draw of the All-American, Pulgar split his matches, defeating Christopher Nott of Arkansas in two sets, 7-5, 6-1, but fell to Eric Quigley of Kentucky in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
One main area of focus where Pulgar and his teammates agree will be the adjustment from playing on outdoor courts to moving indoors for the first time in the fall season.
“Actually, the tournament is going to be indoors, which changes the game a lot and we haven’t practiced indoors yet,” Pulgar said.
However, not all of the players dislike the indoor courts as Pulgar does. Senior Rob Lowe believes that his style of play is built for the indoor game.
“My game is more of an indoor game, but I’ll look serve volley a little bit more, use my serve and my volley as a weapon,” Lowe said.
Being a senior, this is Lowe’s last regional tournament — and he is looking to go out in style. He hopes to go into the tournament confident and focused, while improving from his last finish, as he dropped two straight sets to Baylor’s Sergio Ramirez during the All-American.
“This is my last regional and I’m looking to make a good impact individually and as a team,” Lowe said. “I’m playing pretty good right now, so I’ve got nothing to lose, go in there with an all in mentality as you would put it.
“Every tournament in college is good. Everyone can play tennis and everyone is good. You [have to] attack the tournament with a very positive mentality and play you’re very best.”
Junior Dominic Hodgson highlighted the fact that the tournament will be one of the few that they are able to play as a team instead of individually.
“It’s a good chance for the guys to get out there,” Hodgson said. “We’ve played a lot of tournaments individually, but this one we get to play as a team. It should be fun. I am really excited, especially coming off the All-American tournament and it should be a fun tournament.”
