North Carolina State University Athletics
Cavaday Upsets No. 8 Srugo in Men's Tennis Loss
2/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
RALEIGH, N.C. – Nick Cavaday pulled off a Herculean effort, downing the No. 8 singles player in the nation as No. 56 Old Dominion topped No. 36 NC State, 4-3, on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on the NC State campus in Raleigh, N.C. Cavaday’s win over Harel Srugo marks the highest singles win over a ranked opponent in the Jon Choboy era. The loss, the Pack’s first of the year, pushes them to 8-1, while the Monarch’s improve to 5-2. ODU’s win is only the second time that a lower-ranked squad has upset a ranked NC State team under Choboy.
The Pack collected an exciting and hard-fought doubles tally to open play. James McGee and Jay Weinacker, ranked No. 31 nationally, quickly disposed of Eidy Igarashi and Aleksandr Seleznev, 8-4, at No. 2. The other matches, however, proved to be more difficult. Cavaday and Ben Zink, ranked No. 33, fell to No. 45 Henrique Cancado and Srugo, 8-2, at No. 1, putting the pressure on William Noblitt and Christian Welte at No. 3. Despite a see-saw match at times, the Pack duo dug deep and refused to relent, hanging on for the win, 8-5, over Yakov Diskin and Rodrigo Souza, while handing NC State an early advantage.
Igarashi topped Weinacker, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, at No. 4 to open singles play, knotting the team scores at 1-1. The Monarchs then took a 2-1 lead when No. 32 Cancado finished off McGee, 6-3, 7-5, at No. 2. Seleznev pulled ODU within one point of a team win by besting Noblitt at No. 3, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Cavaday went toe-to-toe with No. 8 Srugo for well over two hours at No. 1 with the overall match hanging in the balance. After splitting the front two sets, Cavaday found himself down 6-5 in third set. Trailing love-40 on his serve, Cavaday saved three-straight match points, eventually winning the game to force a tiebreak. After Srugo saved one match point with Cavaday leading 6-5 in the tiebreak, Cavaday got the mini-break to win, 8-6, taking the match, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
Iriarte made quick work of Souza, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5, tying the team score at 3-3. But Diskin came up big for the Monarchs, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6 against Zink, handing the win to Old Dominion.
NC State will return to the courts against No. 52 Louisville on Sunday, Feb. 25. The 1 p.m. match will be held at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on the NC State campus in Raleigh, N.C.
No. 56 Old Dominion d. No. 36 NC State, 4-3
Doubles
1. No. 45 H. Cancado/H. Srugo (ODU) d. No. 33 Cavaday/Zink, 8-2
2. No. 31 McGee/Weinacker d. E. Igarashi/A. Seleznev (ODU), 8-4
3. Noblitt/Welte d. Y. Diskin/R. Souza (ODU), 8-5
Singles
1. Cavaday d. No. 8 H. Srugo (ODU), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
2. No. 32 H. Cancado (ODU) d. McGee, 6-3, 7-5
3. A. Seleznev (ODU) d. Noblitt, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
4. E. Igarashi (ODU) d. Weinacker, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
5. Iriarte d. R. Souza (ODU), 6-0, 6-0
6. Y. Diskin (ODU) d. Zink, 6-2, 6-2
