The men’s tennis team grabbed its first conference win of the season, taking down No. 33 Clemson, 5-2. State notched its first point after winning two out of three double matches. Dominic Hodgson and Rob Lowe defeated Clemson’s Derek DiFazio and Wes Moran, 8-6, and Jamie Pulgar and Dave Thomson beat Carlos Alvarez and Juan Bolona, 8-5.
Single matches were underway on the outdoor tennis courts but were stopped because of the threat of rain. The change of venue did not seem to stop the Pack’s momentum as it went on to take four singles matches from Clemson.
Freshman Dave Thomson said he was a little worried going indoors would change momentum, but he was able to regain focus and take down Wes Moran 6-3, 6-1.
“We came out and it was so light outside, and we came inside and did a three-minute warm-up and the balls are flying and they are coming quick,” Thomson said. “So far I’ve been winning so I tried not to change much and I won the second set, 6-1. I felt it benefitted me a little bit because I was the one dictating the play.”
Sophomore Dominic Hodgson, who defeated Derek DiFazio 6-0, 6-4, said the team feels good about finally getting its first conference win after losing to UNC-Chapel Hill and the poor play at Wake Forest on Wednesday.
“We made up for it today,” Hodgson said. “It was a really impressive performance. It was only a matter of time before we would get that first win. We just needed to put together a good performance and that is what we did today.”
Head coach Jon Choboy said the Clemson win is a big lesson for a young team. Choboy said the team was afraid of making mistakes against Wake and that the game was its for the taking.
“If that’s the way we are going to play, its not going to be any fun,” Choboy said. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but we worked on a couple of things that allowed us to be a little more aggressive. We came out and started doing that right off the bat today. We never really looked back. We are not going to be passive and we are not going to let people push us around. You have to step up when the opportunities there and take it. And today we did that.”
State fell to Georgia Tech on Sunday 6-1. The Pack’s only point came from No. 94 Pulgar upsetting No. 5 Guillermo Gomez 6-4, 6-4. State will finish its three game home stretch when the No. 24 Duke Blue Devils come to town on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
