Bottom of lineup pushes No. 13 NC State men’s tennis past Harvard

Daniel Susann, Assistant Sports Editor • Feb 9, 2026

Freshman Darius Pop prepares to swing his racket during his singles match against Princeton University at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. Pop won his singles match 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0. The Wolfpack beat the Tigers 4-3.

Taking down another Ivy League opponent in a match coming down to the final court, No. 13 NC State men’s tennis bested Harvard on the road, 4-3.

The Wolfpack (7-1) dropped the doubles point in an intense tie-break on Court 3 and needed a solid effort in the singles. Just like it did against Princeton, the Wolfpack found help from the back half of its lineup and secured points on Courts 3 through 6 to surge past the Crimson (6-4). Closing out the match was No. 114 freshman Charlie Camus, who forced a third set against Harvard’s Mitchell Lee and then blanked him 6-0 to ice the contest.

On Court 1, No. 11 senior Martin Borisiouk took the first set against 2025 ITA New England Rookie of the Year Benjamin Privara, but couldn’t contain the explosive Slovakian. Privara won the next two sets 6-3, 6-3 to steal the match. It marks Borisiouk’s third loss in a row since returning to action after an injury during the winter.

The struggles continued for freshman Ainius Sabaliauskas as he took his fourth loss in five matches, falling to Harvard’s No. 34 Rohan Murali. After dropping the first set tie break, Sabaliauskas fell 6-3 in the second set to lose the match.

The losses on Courts 1 and 2 signal an interesting trend for the Pack: the squad is bottom-heavy. With Borisiouk still recovering, the top of the lineup struggles to compete with other teams’ best, but the bottom half is solid enough to make up for it.

Redshirt sophomore No. 69 Jules Leroux bounced back after a few recent losses with a win over No. 27 Nathan Blockhin 7-5, 6-4. As one of the Pack’s top returning players, Leroux has to be at his best for the Pack to be its best, and if he can continue to raise his level, the Pack will be dangerous by the end of the season.

On the next court, No. 88 sophomore William Manning continued his strong play with a decisive 6-3, 6-1 win over Harvard’s Masato Perera. Manning showed his improvement from last year, as a year ago, Perera got the best of him.

In a fairly dominant fashion, freshman Darius Pop defeated a strong opponent in Marc Ktiri, who had a 7-3 record last season. Helping to push the Pack towards victory, Pop has all but solidified himself in the No. 6 spot in the lineup with a few recent wins.

Since the Wolfpack failed to qualify for the ITA Indoor Championship, there is a bit of a layoff, and NC State will next take the court versus Elon on Feb. 21 at noon in J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.