Men’s Tennis Downs UNC In The NCAA Tournament

General Non-Revenue41

Pretty amazing. The men’s tennis team defeats UNC for the first time in 19 years. The win is even more impressive when you consider the scope of the historic win:

-1st win vs. UNC since 1988
-1st 4-0 win vs UNC
-1st NCAA Sweet 16
-2nd NCAA tournament win
-Set program’s record for most teams wins in a season(22)
-1st win vs. top 10 opponent in program’s history
-Beat highest ranked opponent in program’s history(#6)

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General Non-Revenue

41 Responses to Men’s Tennis Downs UNC In The NCAA Tournament

  1. vtpackfan 05/13/2007 at 5:01 PM #

    That is amazing. NCAA Tennis and parity don’t really mix, so these kind of upsets are rare. Congrats, and keep it going Pack.

  2. one00_proof 05/13/2007 at 5:10 PM #

    You gotta hand it to the Athletics Department and Choboy on this one. Choboy, unlike other schools, recruited American kids and he has built this tennis program almost from scratch. This is the first year where the entire team is composed of his players and they’re a testament to what he’s built at State. Big props to the Athletics Department for the state of the art tennis complex which is a big selling point for the program right now. IIRC, it seems there are some upgrades with the outdoor courts as well that are forthcoming, so the future looks bright.

  3. burnbarn 05/13/2007 at 5:38 PM #

    another team that can stand next year at the banquet!!

  4. Primewolf 05/13/2007 at 6:55 PM #

    Impressive what Choboy has done. We need a tennis stadium in a bad way. Next step, built 4 more indoor cours and expand the players lockers and lounge areas.

    Keep it up Coach Choboy. Congrats players.

  5. Mr O 05/13/2007 at 7:03 PM #

    Here is the breakdown of players:

    • #1 Nick Cavaday(jr) – England
    • #2 William Knoblitt(sr) – Charlotte(Choboy’s first recruit)
    • #3 Jay Weinnecker(so) – Birmingham, Al
    • #4 James McGee(fr) – Ireland
    • #5 Christian Welte(so) – Philadelphis, Pa
    • #6 Andre Iriarte(sr) – Rockville, MD

    Also, David Rosek from somewhere in north(Pa?) plays #3 singles. We should be very good again next year.

    I think the next step in facilities is actually to redo the outdoor tennis center to build seating for 1000 people and install an electronic scoring system.

    Choboy had to get two walk-ons so he could field a team his first year hear for years ago as he tookover a team with only four players. The tennis program was essentially dead in the water.

    Knoblitt and Iriarte were extremely important in turning it around four years ago.

    Two recruits coming next year. One is a transfers from UT that is origally from Clt and the other is from Boone, NC IIRC.

  6. CarnifeX 05/13/2007 at 11:49 PM #

    What sort of facilities do we have now? I know they upgraded the courts some when the redid Doak Field. Are they up to par? better than most? a disgrace to all things tennis?

  7. Mr O 05/14/2007 at 8:17 AM #

    We have six outdoor courts with three metal rec league type of bleachers. We have four indoor courts with offices for coaches and locker rooms. Ideally, you want six indoor courts.

    Compared to UNC, Duke and UVa, we are still well behind in terms of facilities. Not sure about GT and Clemson, but I would guess we still haven’t caught up with them either.

  8. PamlicoPack 05/14/2007 at 8:38 AM #

    Is there actually a “Phase II” on the drawing board for the tennis stadium to make some of the further improvements discussed above? I thought I recall reading somewhere on some official website about plans for lights for the outdoor courts…

  9. Mr O 05/14/2007 at 8:55 AM #

    The team had been building all season long to beat this type of team. Choboy even talked about it in this article that came out before the ACC tournament. Phase II is mentioned in this article:

    http://www.newsobserver.com/752/story/565664.html

    Choboy credits athletics director Lee Fowler and the administration for giving his sport a big boost. The J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, a plush indoor complex, opened in 2003. And plans are in place for an upgrade of approximately $1.4 million to the outdoor facility, which will include an electronic scoreboard, lighted courts and about 1,000 stadium seats.

    More from the article:

    Isenhour, who guided the Pack for 14 seasons, resigned in 1981 but remained on the area tennis scene as a teaching pro in the Raleigh Racquet Club’s junior development program.

    After his departure, State posted only six winning records in the following 23 seasons. When Choboy came, there were only four players on the roster. He found two more — including one from the student body — to get the mandatory six needed to play the spring season.

  10. Texpack 05/14/2007 at 8:56 AM #

    “What’s the big deal. This match was no different than any other match.”
    – HWSNBN

  11. redfred2 05/14/2007 at 9:03 AM #

    I don’t keep with it and I may be wrong, but I thought Clemson and Maryland both, once had very solid tennis programs.

    Anyway, I’m thinking this unexpected turn of events on the tennis courts may be just a precursor for the rest of the dominos that will begin falling elsewhere shortly.

    What if all of the different departments figured out that it CAN be done in Raleigh, even up in the administration offices? It’s scary.

  12. graywolf 05/14/2007 at 9:23 AM #

    This is really good news…..maybe facilities really do help.

  13. RickJ 05/14/2007 at 9:40 AM #

    Mr. O – Thanks for that article – I missed that one.

    Regarding non-revenue college sports – the first thing that is needed for any college program to compete at the highest level is scholarship funding. Even a great coach cannot compete without this piece in place. NC State currently fully funds every sport that we field a team.

    Facilities and coaching come next. A great coach can overcome a certain amount of facility deficiency but it is crucial to compete at the highest level. As has already been pointed out, tennis has recently made the move from terrible facilities to decent. The following NC State sports are clearly behind in facilities:

    Men’s & Women’s Soccer – I think this will be remedied with the new field inside the track but am not sure of the timetable.

    Men’s & Women’s Golf – this will be fixed with the new golf course.

    Softball – this will be fixed with the new field next year. This is a great example of how the lack of facilities can hurt you. The softball team is seeded 15th out of 64 teams in the NCAA tournament. Because we don’t have a field yet, we get to travel to Columbia, SC to compete in a 4 team tourney as the Number 1 seed in this sub regional. Our first game is Friday night with the Number 4 seed South Carolina. This same scenario has hurt our baseball team in the past.

    I’m not really sure how our Track & Field and Swimming & Diving facilities stack up but I doubt they are killing our chances to be successful.

  14. Mr O 05/14/2007 at 9:43 AM #

    We are building a new track, but not sure how the overall facilities are for the track programs.

    89grad on Pack pride(pamlico pack here?) said that the swimming facilities are pretty pathetic.

  15. Mr O 05/14/2007 at 9:59 AM #

    As far as tennis facilities go, Georgia is tops. They are hosting the NCAAs this week.

    UNC has a facilities upgrade in the works for tennis. Their indoor facility has six courts and is very well-designed for fan viewing. Supposedly they are going to build a larger outdoor stadium.

    http://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=8800&ATCLID=301044

  16. Mr O 05/14/2007 at 10:01 AM #

    That link didn’t work. Search Dan McGill Tennis Complex to see Georgia’s facility.

  17. wolfonthehill 05/14/2007 at 11:11 AM #

    Isenhour was my racquetball coach at State in the early 90’s… good man…

  18. legacyman 05/14/2007 at 11:59 AM #

    J.W. was a dorm mate of mine in 1960 but he later transferred to Appalachian where he graduated and went on to earn a masters degree while I was there working on mine. Good guy.

  19. redfred2 05/14/2007 at 12:08 PM #

    ^Texpack

    Now that’s my kinda post there!!! 😉

  20. PapaJohn 05/14/2007 at 12:29 PM #

    Great to see improvement in multiple areas. Great job coach!
    Go Pack!

  21. Girlfriend in a Coma 05/14/2007 at 1:53 PM #

    Isenhour taught me PE 100 my freshman year (spring 88). Cool guy. He scored Masters Tickets and told us not to show up that day and if we didn’t say anything he wouldn’t. (I think he was supposed to get someone to cover for him).

    I could not believe how hard that class was. I busted my ass and only got a B. He said not to feel bad, that David Thompson only got a B so we were in good company.

  22. STLPACK 05/14/2007 at 3:59 PM #

    Hey, I thought we coudn’t hope to be able to compete with the likes of UNX and DOOK….. Well, shucks!

  23. packbackr04 05/14/2007 at 4:30 PM #

    ANYONE SEE THAT lOWE AND yOW BOTH RECIEVED 1yr CONTRACT EXTENSIONs….oops sorry for the caps….. i use them at work and forgot to switch

  24. redfred2 05/14/2007 at 4:37 PM #

    Looks like this a bottom/up kind of teaching on the capabilities of athletic programs at like universities. The coaches are going to take it upon themselves to show that contrary to the popular beliefs expressed by their superiors, they can compete, and win, with or without any added effort from above. I stated a while back that I thought that that would be what it would take in Raleigh, and I believe we’re on the verge of witnessing it in the big revenue sports as well.

  25. TNCSU 05/14/2007 at 7:23 PM #

    Coaching – and facilities. The tennis team in the 1980’s had Crawford Henry as a coach — reason #1. Most teams have an A team, B team, and practice squad. Henry didn’t like keeping anyone that was NOT on scholarship. I beat a guy on scholarship, but he didn’t want to keep any walk-ons. My High School won the State Championship (me at #1) — I won the my State doubles tournament and was ranked in the top ten, and he didn’t even return any of my calls asking for information. I didn’t really plan to play in college, and still came to State because of a separate scholarship. I know I’m biased thinking Henry was not a good coach, but I knew guys who played at Clemson, and the quality of the programs was night and day — I’m glad to see it’s changed.

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