NC State/UNC grudge match today in men’s tennis(UNC wins 5-2)

General Non-Revenue21

Today at 3 pm in Chapel Hill, UNC and NC State will faceoff in a crucial match. NC State needs this win to help solidify an NCAA tournament bid. We have won four straight ACC matches, but unfortunately we still have the toughest stretch of our schedule ahead. We face what might be the five best teams in the ACC(UVa, UNC, FSU, Miami and Virginia Tech) all on the road to end the season.

Live stats can be followed here. If anyone is free this afternoon, then I highly recommend attending this match. In my opinion, college tennis is by far the most exciting non-revenue sport because there is non-stop action and every match counts.

NC State’s tennis team might have been the biggest athletics story in 2007 as they made a historic run to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament which was a first for the men’s tennis program. Last year was Coach John Choboy’s fifth season at NC State and throughout last year the team played as if they were on the verge of something special losing close matches to several top teams.

UNC and NC state played a grueling, four+ hour match in the regular season that came down to the the third set at #5 singles. Both the NC State and UNC players were cramping so bad that they could barely move on the court during points. The drama unfolding on the court kept many people from going over to watch the baseball game versus ECU. In the end, UNC pulled it out to win the match 4-3.

After an early exit in the ACC tournament to Virginia Tech, NC State got it rolling in the NCAA tournament. They won their first round match gainst 43rd ranked William & Mary to set up a rematch against UNC in Chapel Hill. NC State played their best tennis of the year to win 4-0 which was only the sixth win over UNC in the program’s history, 1st win against UNC since 1988, and the program’s first win ever against a top 10 ranked team.

“This is a huge win for our program,” said head coach Jon Choboy. “We’ve been knocking on the door for a while now, and we finally kicked it in. The guys played as tough as possible, and they believed that they could come out on top. You can’t ask for much more than that. I’m as proud of them as I can be.

“I can’t say enough about the support of the loyal Wolfpackers that made the drive out to cheer us on,” said Choboy. “Their support helped our confidence and gave us an extra energy to feed off of in a tough environment. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.”

They beat 11th ranked Texas in the round of sixteen before bowing out to Baylor in the Elite 8.

This year’s team (11-8, 4-2) is progressing in a similar manner to last year. Of our eight losses, six were by a score of 4-3 against solid teams Rice, Alabama, Wake Forest, Duke, Indiana, and Notre Dame. Hopefully we can kick in the door one more time today.

Score update)

UNC won 5-2. Our #1 doubles team got killed and we lost two close matches at #2 and #3. In singles, Nick Cavaday playing at #2 was off his game and lost. UNC won quickly at #4 and then again at #6 to go up 4-0 and put the Pack away. Derrick Stephens(#5) and Jay Weinacker(#3) came back from a set down in their matches to keep us from getting blanked. The #1 match was also very close, but James McGee lost in a tiebreaker in the 3rd set.

With the schedule ahead, we might be lucky to win another match this year.

General Non-Revenue

21 Responses to NC State/UNC grudge match today in men’s tennis(UNC wins 5-2)

  1. ruffles31 04/02/2008 at 11:37 AM #

    Mr. O, does the NCAA tournament for tennis have a field of 64 as basketball? Do the games for the tournament before the final 8 or so held on the campus site for the higher seed? How does that work? Is it more regional setup like soccer? Not that we have had to worry about that sport being in the NCAA recently.

  2. BoKnowsNCS71 04/02/2008 at 2:49 PM #

    Wow — surely a case of “tennis envy”

  3. blackdom 04/02/2008 at 4:58 PM #

    ^true can’t pull off the sweater around my neck deal sorry

  4. Octavian 04/02/2008 at 8:33 PM #

    We lose to UNC again? What a total shocker. Sorry, but it has reached the point of ridicule…or should I say mundanity.

  5. vtpackfan 04/03/2008 at 6:50 AM #

    Unfortunate outcome. I’m hopefully optimistic about this athletic team in the future (as oppossed to regretfully optimistic in most cases). Have you gotten a chance to go into the Isenhower tennis center yet? I’ve just seen the facilities from the outside since that is where I had to park each day to go to work.

    Thanks for the entry, keep the updated coming.

  6. Rochester 04/03/2008 at 6:59 AM #

    I’m starting to feel like Cheers competing against Gary’s Old Town Tavern. Maybe we can track down Diane Chambers so we can beat them in bowling.

  7. burnbarn 04/03/2008 at 8:04 AM #

    So i guess things are now no looking so great for the rest of the season?

  8. BoKnowsNCS71 04/03/2008 at 8:46 AM #

    Just a random thought – I got my Wolfpacker yesterday. The front page and inside articles were about Jim Valavan and the 1983 NCSU run for the Championship.

    While I am proud of that, I feel it is somewhat disinegnuous of our school to milk Jim Valvano’s image while at the same time the school has done nothing (that I am aware of) to commemorate the man. Is there any building, basketball court, statue, plaque, memorial or any thing or place that NCSU has set aside to remember this man?

    Coach V brought recognition and sucess to our school. In death, his legacy lives on at a national level and is inspirational to all who are affected by cancer.

    And as the school ignores him, they continue to milk his accomplishments as a distraction to alumni who see an atletic program that is sinking due to a lack of leadership. The WPC can do better than this.

  9. kyjelly 04/03/2008 at 9:01 AM #

    Ok when did we last win the acc in tennis?

  10. 66pack 04/03/2008 at 9:49 AM #

    kyjelly is an appropriate name for a state fan—if they would be a sponsor we could rename the rbc center.

  11. Mr. O 04/03/2008 at 10:26 AM #

    Not sure how to take that comment on Lee Fowler. If you are a fan of Lee, then this is one sport where you can actually give him some credit for improving. He hired a new coach six years ago that has done a great job. Key recruiting year since we lost one of our top recruits last year already to an incident on campus.

  12. blackdom 04/03/2008 at 10:27 AM #

    ^ I too think it is a great name for a state fan……we have been getting f_ _ __d here for quite some time

  13. packbackr04 04/03/2008 at 10:53 AM #

    so Duke loses King, BC loses two players to defection, could we please be next? please?

    http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articles/2008/04/02/spears_and_kaba_transfer_from_bc/

    sorry for jacking the thread, theres been no new post in a while though

  14. blackdom 04/03/2008 at 11:54 AM #

    Spears from BC actually looked good against us (who did’nt)
    In the link he is actually shown boxing someone out! From NC as well

  15. PackBacker001 04/03/2008 at 12:44 PM #

    Mr. O-
    Care to inform us about the incident? Was it something the recruit did during a visit, or more of an NCAA type of thing?

  16. choppack1 04/03/2008 at 1:16 PM #

    packbacker – just google it.

  17. packbackr04 04/03/2008 at 2:11 PM #

    just google what?

  18. rky 04/03/2008 at 2:13 PM #

    Yeah, this link has nothing to do with tennis but what the heck . . . it is funny . . . especially if you hate Memphis b-ball as much as I do.

    http://www.theonion.com/content/news/memphis_players_have_long

  19. packbackr04 04/03/2008 at 2:18 PM #

    ooooo, the other packbacker. the one who spells his name correctly

  20. Rochester 04/03/2008 at 6:39 PM #

    I wrote my letter to Chancellor Oblinger tonight. Anyone else who’s got a gripe about Senor Fowler being nominated for an Award of Excellence should take the time to do likewise. It probably won’t spur them into action, but if they get enough letters it might at least make them think. Last place is not excellent.

  21. highstick 04/03/2008 at 7:41 PM #

    Just out of curiosity, I’d like to be consistent with my letter to Obie about Opie. Rochester, can you email me a copy to [email protected]? I have no problem writing a letter. Everytime I’ve sent an email to him, he sends me a bunch of BS back, so maybe it will send a letter by snailmail.

    I do know one thing, my former firm no longer hires State grads. Except for the few who are actually Meredith undergrads who finished in the State MACC program. I warned the “SOB” and I’m doing everything I can to fight him! Hate to be that way, but it’s the only way to stop this “downhill slide into oblivion”!

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