CARY NC State battled to the end, but ultimately couldn’t get over the hump, falling to Wake Forest, 4-2, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals.
The No. 3 seed Wolfpack will now await its NCAA tournament fate. NC State (15-9) has appeared in the NCAA tournament every season since Kyle Spencer took over as head coach.
It was an earlier exit from the ACC tournament than expected. The Wolfpack defeated the Demon Deacons 4-2 on April 12. Wake Forest was able to get payback, first by getting the doubles point in a nail biter and then holding off an NC State rally in the singles.
“Great college tennis match,” Spencer said. “I thought both teams gave everything. Credit to Wake Forest, they had just a little bit extra at the end. I thought our guys left it all out there. I am proud of them for that. This one will hurt.”
Doubles (Wake Forest 1, NC State 0)
The all-important doubles point came down to the top matchup.
After spitting matchups on court three and two, all eyes were set on the showdown between No. 20 Rafa Izquierdo Luque/Joe Wayand and Filippo Moroni/Matthew Thomson.
The Demon Deacons duo edged the Pack pair, 7-6, in a tiebreaker.
Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek picked up the first win, blasting Juan Lopez de Azcona and Melios Efstathiou, 6-1.
The No. 2 doubles set featured a pair of ranked teams. No. 70 Jurabek Karimov and Luciano Tacchi, of Wake Forest, also needed a tiebreaker set to defeat No. 15 Robin Catry and Luca Staeheli, 7-6.
“Two tiebreakers, Wake just came up with the goods,” Spencer said.
Singles Wake Forest 3, NC State 2)
Van Sambeek and Wayand picked up two NC State points in singles competition. Van Sambeek dominated his first set versus Luciano Tacchi, quickly winning 6-2. He completed the straight sets win with a 7-5 win in set two.
Wayand took the first set versus Lopez de Azcona, 6-3, before falling 3-6, in the second. Wayand pulled the Pack to within one, 3-2, with his win on court six, making things interesting late.
NC State needed Staeheli on court two and Catry on court three to pull out comeback wins.
Both players forced third sets. Staeheli battled versus Moroni, winning the first set 6-2. Moroni forced a third set, with most of the remaining crowd locked in on court two.
Staeheli kept it tight early as the two went back and forth. Once…
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