Wolfpack Downs Men’s Tennis, 4-1

 CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—No. 23 NC State won the doubles point and went on to a 4-1 win over No. 13 North Carolina on Friday evening in Chapel Hill.
 
The Wolfpack improved to 12-6 overall this season, 6-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels dropped to 14-6, 6-2.
 
The new outdoor courts at the Carolina Tennis Center made their debut on Friday with a doubleheader with the UNC women’s team, which beat Florida State, 6-1, earlier in the day.

In the men’s match, Carolina and the Wolfpack played the doubles point and started singles play outside in the new facility before moving indoors due to rain. The teams completed the match at the adjacent Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center’s indoor courts.

 

“It was exciting to be in the new stadium and play in front of that kind of crowd,” Tar Heel head coach Sam Paul said. “It was different for us, different for our guys, the atmosphere and intensity of the match. I think NC State handled things better than we did, so credit to them.”

 

Carolina lost the doubles point for just the fifth time in 20 matches this season. UNC’s Will Jansen and Karl Poling started things off with an easy, 6-1, win at No. 3 over Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek. The Wolfpack then won at No. 2, 6-3, when the 40th-ranked duo of Rafa Izquierdo Luque and Joseph Wayand beat No. 32 Brian Cernoch and Benjamin Kittay, 6-3.

 

At No. 1 doubles, Ryan Seggerman and Casey Kania, ranked No. 19 nationally, led No. 27 Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli, 5-3, before the NCSU duo roared back and won four consecutive games to take a 7-5 win and the doubles point.

 

Midway through the first set of singles matches, the action moved indoors due to rain. Competition resumed after a 42-minute delay.

 

Seggerman, ranked No. 37, tied the score at 1-1 by winning the first singles match, 6-4, 0-6 and 6-2 over No. 52 Luque at No. 2. State retook the lead at 2-1 shortly thereafter with back-to-back wins by Catry at No. 4 over Poling (6-4, 6-3) and by Van Sambeek over Logan Zapp at No. 5, 6-4 and 6-4.

 

State then clinched the team victory when the 73rd-ranked Staeheli beat No. 47 Cernoch in three sets.

 

The Tar Heels will return to action on Sunday at 1 p.m. at home against No. 16-ranked Wake Forest.