In its first of two matches against Ivy League opponents this weekend, NC State men’s tennis won the battle of the brains against Princeton, taming the Tigers 7-0 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Despite Princeton (1-1) giving the Wolfpack (2-0) a run for its money in a close doubles round, NC State pulled off an effortless set of singles matches to sweep the Tigers. The red-and-white only dropped one singles set all evening on its way to the dominant win.
“That’s a very good team that we beat, and I think they’ll give everybody that they play a tough match,” said head coach Kyle Spencer. “That’s a tough win, but at the same time, that’s a win that was earned. It’s earned in practice, it was earned in the fall. Moving forward, I think we’ve got a lot of guys playing good tennis in the right spots to be able to feel like we can continue to have these types of performances.”
At the outset of the match, it appeared as though the Pack was on its way to an easy doubles point, but it proved to be anything but. The doubles pairs of senior Robin Catry/junior Fons Van Sambeek and junior Braden Shick/senior Luca Staeheli both found themselves with big leads and multiple chances to clinch their matches with five game wins. However, both pairs had a tough time finishing the deal, allowing their Tiger opponents to tie each match at five games apiece.
Meanwhile, the pair that seemed least likely to finish their match — junior Joseph Wayand and sophomore Martin Borisiouk — now was the Pack’s best chance of getting at least one match win, and the pair got the job done, winning 6-3.
“It’s one of those unique situations where you’re playing a team match and you’re playing an individual match at the same time,” Spencer said. “You really do have to give support to the other guys without distracting yourself. Focusing on the way that you can help the team is to play well and get off your court as fast as possible.”
Now the pressure fell back on courts one and three, the Pack needing just one win to clinch the point. That win came from Shick and Staeheli, who won two straight sets to clinch 7-5 and grant the red-and-white a 1-0 lead. Conversely, Catry and Van Sambeek were down 6-5 when play was stopped and would have had an uphill battle should it have been necessary.
After a tense doubles point, things quickly fell into place for the Pack in singles. Staeheli, Van Sambeek and Shick all raced through their respective first sets while Catry battled his way to a 7-5 first set win on court one.
With NC State gaining more and more momentum by the minute, the Wolfpack started turning set wins into match wins. Staeheli was the first off his court, downing No. 87 Ellis Short 6-1, 6-3. Van Sambeek followed right behind Staeheli with a 6-2, 6-1 win. Before long, NC State was ready to clinch its second match of the season.
Catry, who suffered the Pack’s lone loss in its season-opening 6-1 win over Northwestern, bounced back with a win on court one against the Tigers. After a tough first set, the senior rolled through his second for a match-clinching 7-5, 6-1 win.
“I didn’t get broken today,” Catry said. “That’s excellent, compared to Monday. … Today I didn’t give him any breathing room. And yeah, I did great, I’m happy.”
Even with the victory in hand, NC State kept its foot on the gas. Shick finished off his opponent via a second-set tiebreak for a 3-6, 6-7 (7-4) win on court three. Borisiouk then earned the Pack’s sixth point with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court five.
Wayand wrapped up NC State’s sweep with a gritty 6-2, 5-7 (1-0) win which he took via a third-set superbreaker. Despite the Pack’s win being sealed, the junior still put every ounce of effort into his game-deciding breaker.
NC State will hit the road for the first time this season to take on Harvard, calling for a continuation of NC State’s teamwork and dedication it’s brought to its first two matches.
“Keep setting the level,” Spencer said. “Keep keeping together. We have an enthusiastic group who believe in each other and want to be around each other. And so all of those things are needed when you go on the road. And I think we’ll do a good job and I think we’ll put out a really good performance.”
Play against the Crimson is set for Sunday, Jan. 21, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.