After falling to the top team in the country Friday night, No. 21 NC State men’s tennis closed the weekend — and its home slate — with a 4-0 domination of Virginia Tech.
The Wolfpack (15-2, 7-1 ACC) didn’t drop a single set en route to a win over the Hokies (5-11, 2-6 ACC), rebounding from a 4-1 loss to No. 1 Virginia. The Pack took care of business in robotic fashion, controlling and closing out the match in just over an hour and a half for one of the quickest contests of the season.
“We played a good match on Friday night, just didn’t get over the line,” head coach Kyle Spencer said. “The tennis was right. We’ve got a professional group. We had a good practice yesterday … making sure they get what we’re trying to do, trying not to get too high, trying not to get too low, then do a good job of executing where we need to.”
Securing the doubles point, which the Pack has taken in 15 of 17 matches, NC State dismantled Virginia Tech with wins on Courts 2 and 3. Redshirt sophomore William Manning and freshman Charlie Camus got it done first, winning 6-2. A more tightly-contested match was going down on Court 3 for freshman Ainius Sabaliauskas and redshirt freshman Cody Benton, but they hung on to win their seventh-straight doubles set, 6-4.
“We got three really good teams,” Spencer said. “They’re doing a good job, they’re holding serve, that’s a big deal. All three teams are really starting to gel and get going, we’ll see as the season goes along.”
From there, it was a race to the finish line.
Redshirt sophomore Jules Leroux, who recently fell out of the ITA top 125, picked up a swift 6-2, 6-2 victory over Tech’s Eyal Shumilov. Over the course of the season, he has been trending up, with his only recent losses coming after a rolled ankle versus Louisville and against a top contender from Virginia.
“I’ve been trying to work on my serve a lot because that’s really important in the modern game,” Leroux said. “If you have a big serve, you will have an easy plus one … Trying to keep my composure, that’s been my biggest challenge right now. Trying to stay positive, good body langage for my team and for my opponent too.”
There was no shortage of good body language for Leroux versus the Hokies as he cruised to a dominant victory.
The other victory-clinchers for the Wolfpack were Camus on Court 5 and Sabaliauskas on Court 4. But on all the other courts, it seemed like the Pack was on the way to victory if it hadn’t clinched, having won the first set on all six courts.
With five matches remaining, NC State enters a crucial period of the season, and the Pack will be on the road for all of it. The red-and-white is a few Tobacco Road opponents and a trip to California away from the postseason, and it looks to enjoy every step of the journey.
“Just doing what we’ve been doing lately,” Leroux said. “We’re all together as a team, we’re all friends, we’re really close to each other. That’s what makes us successful.”
For the first stop, NC State will face No. 51 Duke, who beat the Pack earlier in the season 4-2, on Friday at 5 p.m. in Durham.
