No. 9 NC State men’s tennis fell in the Sweet 16 to No. 8 Columbia after conceding the doubles point and falling to outperform a strong Columbia singles lineup.
The Pack was behind the 8-ball off the jump, as No. 6 ranked duo of seniors Fons Van Sambeek and Braden Shick dropped their match against No. 41 Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen after giving up an early break. With its top pairing going down, NC State (22-7) dropped the doubles point and Columbia (20-4) had a clear path to victory. The Pack was on pace to split the singles round, and the doubles loss proved costly.
NC State’s No. 20 pairing featuring senior Luca Staeheli and redshirt freshman Jules Lerouz took on No. 86 Max Westphal and Sachin Palta, but their match went unfinished 5-4 as the final doubles match ended in favor of the Lions. NC State duo of junior Martin Borisiouk and freshman Nikolay Nedelchev got blown out 6-2 by Columbia’s Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman, putting the Lions in control of the match.
The doubles match on Court 1 was the final event that No. 27 Shick would play, as the top NC State singles player would not take the court in the singles round. Each Wolfpack player moved up one spot in the lineup and Nedelchev came off the bench to take on Tanaphat Boosarawongse on Court 6.
But Nedelchev was not scared coming off the bench, and the ‘next man up’ took down Boosarawongse in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, picking up a much needed win for the Wolfpack. This was just his sixth singles match this season, but the freshman came up big.
On Court 1 taking on Columbia’s ace, No. 30 Borisiouk fell to No. 2 Michael Zheng. Borisiouk lost in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. While Borisiouk was unable to pull off the upset, No. 91 Staeheli took down No. 52 Nicolas Kotzen in dominant fashion, winning 6-2, 6-1. The Wolfpack senior was victorious in his final match wearing the red-and-white, extending his winning streak to eight in a row. Staeheli now boasts 84 singles victories, tied for seventh-most in Wolfpack history.
Lerouz lost in straight sets on Court 4 to Lion’s No. 81 Hugo Hashimoto 6-4, 6-2. The freshman moved to 20-5 on the season with the defeat. On the next court, Van Sambeek fell 6-4, 6-2 to Columbia’s Max Westphal. This loss was the nail in the coffin for the Pack, clinching Columbia’s berth to Waco, Texas for the quarterfinals.
The match between Wolfpack redshirt freshman William Manning and Columbia’s Sachin Palta went unfinished at 6-4, 4-4, but Manning held a commanding one set lead and was on pace to claim a point for the Pack and split the singles round.
It was another strong season for Wolfpack men’s tennis as it made the Sweet 16 for the third time in team history, and just missed out on the regular season conference title after going 12-1, dropping its final match to the No. 1 Demon Deacons.
