The No. 57 Wolfpack men’s tennis team suffered its first loss of the season Friday afternoon to No. 7 Kentucky for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington, Ky.
The Pack didn’t show any early signs of being intimidated by the daunting Wildcat lineup, led by a pair of top-15 nationally ranked players. The doubles matches were highly contested, ending with a pair of losses for State. Senior Dominic Hodgson and sophomore Matt Thomson dropped the first match at the No. 2 doubles spot, 8-5.
Senior Julian Sullivan and sophomore Sean Weber made a valiant effort at the No. 1 doubles position, taking on Kentucky’s No. 5 Eric Quigley and No. 85 Panav Jha. Sullivan and Weber fell just short of the victory, losing 9-8 (4) in the decisive match. The No. 3 doubles match was then discontinued with NCSU freshman Robbie Mudge and senior Jaime Pulgar leading 6-4.
State left empty-handed in singles, as well. No. 5-ranked Quigley won over Pulgar 6-3, 6-2, No. 13 Alex Musialek defeated Hodgson 6-2, 6-2, and No. 36 Anthony Rossi topped Sullivan 6-4, 6-4, closing the match out by a final score of 4-0 in the Wildcats’ favor.
The Pack turned over a new leaf Saturday morning, taking on No. 58 East Tennessee State in an excellent match. Each team was coming off of a tough loss from the day before, with ETSU falling to No. 22 Tulsa by a 4-1 count.
State’s Robbie Mudge and Jaime Pulgar came out ready to play at the No. 3 doubles position, easily taking down their opponent by an 8-3 count. However, the Bucs answered right back, winning a heated match over Julian Sullivan and Sean Weber in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (4).
The decisive match came at the No. 2 doubles position. Dominic Hodgson and Sean Weber took their match deep into yet another doubles tiebreaker. This time, however, the Wolfpack came out on top with a 10-5 tiebreaker score, giving State the doubles point for the match.
Singles was much of the same for both teams, with mostly contested matches that ended with the Pack coming out on top. Mudge and Hodgson, however, helped the win come out easy for State. Mudge finished first at the No. 3 position, 6-3, 6-4, and Hodgson wasn’t far behind at the No. 2 spot, 6-0, 6-4.
Freshman No. 100 Austin Powell had the decisive win for the Red Terrors, pulling out a win at the No. 4 position in three sets, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3, to give State the 4-0 win. The remaining three matches were discontinued, including No. 1 Pulgar who was leading 3-6, 7-6 (8), 4-3.
Coach Jon Choboy was satisfied with the weekend overall, despite Friday’s loss.
“This weekend was good for two reasons,” Choboy said. “The first is that it was a tough match on the road. We lost a few opportunities on court against Kentucky, considering we took the lead on court yesterday in a few matches. But secondly, it gave us good experience on a hostile court. We won today in a challenging match, so it’s definitely something to build again.”
Likewise, Austin Powell understands the importance of the win and what it means for the team.
“It’s a big win moving forward,” Powell said. “We have big expectations as a ranked team, and this win was a step in the right direction for where we’re trying to
