March 4, 2009

No. 39 NC State Beats No. 29 North Carolina
Sophomore David Chermak dominated Alex Rafiee in straight sets at the No. 6 singles spot to give the No. 39 NC State men's tennis team its first ACC win of the season, a 5-2 victory over No. 29 North Carolina. The last time the Pack beat UNC was in the 2007 NCAA tournament, when NC State blanked the Tarheels to reach the Sweet 16. NC State won the doubles point and then four singles matches to earn the win. The victory improves The Pack to 7-6 (1-0 ACC) on the season, and North Carolina falls to 9-3 (0-1 ACC).

NC State started the contest with a bang, securing the doubles point for an early lead over the Tarheels. Junior Frideric Prandecki and sophomore Rob Lowe stayed on top of Brennan Boyajian and Luke Mojica, and pulled ahead at the end to secure the win, 8-5, at the No. 3 doubles slot. Senior Christian Welte and redshirt freshman Julian Sullivan battled back from a 7-1 deficit, but the No. 22 doubles team of Clay Donato and Taylor Fogleman staved off the Pack duo to tie up the doubles matches with an 8-4 win at No. 1.

The first point of the competition would be up to the No. 2 doubles team of senior Jay Weinacker and freshman Jaime Pulgar, the No. 52 doubles duo in the nation. Andrew Crone and Zach Hunter stayed even with the pair throughout the set, but Weinacker and Pulgar dominated the final two games to win the match, 9-7, at No. 2, and give the Pack an early lead.

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Tech Downs Clemson 4-3 in ACC Opener
Picking up a crucial point in doubles play, the Georgia Tech men's tennis team defeated Clemson 4-3 in the conference opener Wednesday at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center in Clemson, S.C.

For the third-straight match, it came down to the final pair to determine the doubles point. Unlike the last two times, Tech (5-4) was finally able to grab the point for a 1-0 lead.

After the No. 59 duo of Guillermo Gomez and Ryan Smith easily handled Clemson's Carlos Alvarez and Rok Bizjak 8-3, Kevin King and partner Doug Kenny fell to Gera Boryachins and Wesley Moran 8-6. Tech's No. 3 of Miguel Muguruza and Austin Roebuck would then pull out winner with a 9-7 victory over Kevin Galloway and Robert Pietrucha.

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Duke Claims Sweep Of Doubleheader
The No. 38 Duke men’s tennis team won back-to-back matches 7-0 in Wednesday’s doubleheader at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.

The Blue Devils won all 18 matches for a pair of 7-0 sweeps over Charlotte and N.C. Central. With the two wins Duke improves to 5-3 on the season and 4-0 at home. In the two matches, head coach Ramsey Smith switched the lineups around trying players in different spots. Three players saw action in their first dual match of the year, including junior David Lue and freshman Luke Marchese who played in their first career dual matches and each earned victories.

The two dual matches were the first in nearly a month for the Blue Devils with the last match coming on Feb. 8. 

Boston College Defeats UC San Diego 5-2, UC Riverside 6-1
The Boston College men's tennis team picked up two wins this week, defeating University of California San Diego 5-2 and UC Riverside 6-1.

The Eagles enter this weekend's Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament on a three game win streak after back-to-back ACC losses to Virginia and Virginia Tech to close out the month of February.

Against San Diego, The Eagles picked up wins from junior Thomas Nolan, freshman Akash Muppidi and sophomores Erik Kreutzer and Brian Locklear. Nolan, Muppidi and Locklear defeated their opponents in straight sets, and Kreutzer rallied after dropping his first set to take the win in three.