April 16, 2009
After falling behind in doubles play, the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team (10-11) couldn’t manage a comeback in a 4-1 loss to NC State (10-14) in the first round of the ACC Championships Thursday in Cary, N.C.
“I give all the credit to NC State,” head coach Kenny Thorne said. “They came out strong and outplayed us, and we didn’t have enough answers in doubles.”
Playing in front of mostly a home-crowd at the Cary Tennis Park, the Wolfpack came out strong early as Jaime Pulgar and Jay Weinacker defeated Doug Kenny and Kevin King 8-6 at No. 2 doubles. On court one, Guillermo Gomez and Ryan Smith had the win in sights with a 7-6 lead, but Julian Sullivan and Christian Welte fought back for the 9-7 victory to put NC State up 1-0.
In singles, State went up 2-0 as David Chermak took down Austin Roebuck, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 6 to start things off. Gomez got Tech on board moments later with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1, but the Wolfpack would get two straight wins as Sullivan defeated Smith, 7-6, 6-3, at No. 5 and Pulgar downed King, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4 for the clinch and the 4-1 win. The loss for King was just the first in his last five matches, and just his third on the season at the No. 4 spot. Gomez, who was named to the All-ACC team Thursday morning, won his 28th match of the year while surpassing his win total from 2008.
Sophomore Miguel Muguruza (6-4, 1-6, 0-1, unfinished) and Potvin (6-2, 4-6, 1-2, unfinished) had their matches suspended in the third set, as neither would have had an effect on the outcome since the match was already clinched.
“We did well at one, two and three in singles to get up a set, and Guillermo [Gomez] won a great match, but NC State went up early at four, five and six and we couldn’t come back,” Thorne added.
The Jackets fell to the Wolfpack in the first round of the Championships for the second-straight season, as NC State edged Tech in last year’s match, 4-3. NC State ends a seven-match losing streak with the win, and will move on to face second-seeded Miami Friday.
The Jackets will now wait to see if they receive an NCAA At-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Tennis Match Results
North Carolina State 4, #43 Georgia Tech 1
Singles competition1. #11 Guillermo Gomez (GT) def. Jay Weinacker (NCST) 6-2, 6-32. Miguel Muguruza (GT) vs. Christian Welte (NCST) 6-4, 1-6, 0-1, unfinished3. Eliot Potvin (GT) vs. Derek Stephens (NCST) 6-2, 4-6, 1-2, unfinished4. Jaime Pulgar (NCST) def. Kevin King (GT) 6-2, 6-25. Julian Sullivan (NCST) def. Ryan Smith (GT) 7-6, 6-36. David Chermak (NCST) def. Austin Roebuck (GT) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles competition 1. Julian Sullivan/Christian Welte (NCST) def. #44 Guillermo Gomez/Ryan Smith (GT) 9-7 2. Jay Weinacker/Jaime Pulgar (NCST) def. Kevin King/Doug Kenny (GT) 8-6 3. Eliot Potvin/Austin Roebuck (GT) vs. Rob Lowe/David Chermak (NCST) 6-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,1,5,4) ACC Tournament – Round 1
