CARY, N.C. — It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish. In its first matchup in the 2026 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship, No. 29 NC State men’s tennis was subpar in both categories.
Heading into the postseason bearing a three-match losing streak, No. 5 seed NC State (16-7, 8-5 ACC) hoped to return to its midseason form and get back some of the momentum it gained during its 10-match win streak. And despite NC State jumping ahead 3-1 late in the match, No. 13 seed Florida State (14-14, 3-10 ACC) squashed the Wolfpack’s efforts with clutch play, pulling off the upset, 4-3.
“We were at 3-1, but we had lost four first sets,” head coach Kyle Spencer said. “… We were battling from behind… Everybody’s got a good team, and you got to play for it when it’s crunch time. I just think we didn’t do that.”
It began with the doubles point, an area where the Pack has been searching for answers for the last month. The rough stretch prompted Spencer to diversify his assets and split up his top pairing with a few matches remaining in the regular season. No. 20 senior Martin Borisiouk and redshirt sophomore Jules Leroux were split up despite an 11-2 record together.
The Court 3 pairing of redshirt freshman Cody Benton and freshman Ainius Sabaliauskas were moved up to Court 1 after moderate success together, but they have not fared well against better competition. Against No. 38 Jan Sebesta and Erik Schiessl of the Seminoles, they fell 2-6.
Borisiouk joined freshman Charlie Camus, while Leroux joined fellow redshirt sophomore William Manning. Borisiouk and Camus fell 5-7 to clinch the doubles point for Florida State.
The doubles loss marked its seventh in the last eight matches, contributing heavily to another bad streak for NC State — five losses in the last six matches.
“We’d lost a bunch of doubles points, so maybe some of the pairings weren’t doing what they needed to do and perform,” Spencer said. “Whenever that happens, you gotta kind of shake it up a little bit. I liked how we played at Wake [Forest]. Close to winning the doubles point there, but today was not good enough.”
From there, NC State dropped four of six opening sets with Borisiouk, Manning, Camus and freshman Darius Pop struggling early in the singles competition. No. 112 Leroux on Court 2 and Sabaliauskas on Court 4 were the two players to strike first. Both would go on to win in straight sets, taking a lead for NC State while the rest of the matches turned into intense three-set battles.
Borisiouk won his final two sets on Court 1 to put the Pack one point away from the quarterfinals, while three battles were still being fought. But one by one, Camus, Manning and Pop fell in tight situations.
It all came down to the third set of Pop’s match versus Gabor Hornung on Court 6. With the duel tied 3-3, and the final set closing in on a tie-break, three double faults in his final two service games doomed the freshman. Breaking Pop to win 7-5, Hornung won the deciding deuce point to seal the match.
“It’s a good lesson,” Spencer said. “When you have opportunities, you gotta play for it, and you gotta close stuff out. You don’t close things out, then you’re gonna be behind the eight ball, and you’re gonna allow other guys to have a chance to win the match.”
Looking ahead, NC State is certainly outside of the top 16 and will not host an NCAA Regional. The Pack awaits NCAA Tournament selection to see where it will head, with the bracket revealed on April 27, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.
