North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Southern Intercollegiate
Powell Advances to Finals With Win Over Mudge
9/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 25, 2011
Southern Intercollegiate Day 3 
| UVa Ranked +1 Invitational final draw
ATHENS, Ga. - It was a little awkward at first, for NC State freshman Austin Powell. Playing in just the second tournament of his collegiate tennis career, he had to play against his teammate, roommate and doubles partner, fellow Wolfpack freshman Robbie Mudge.
The two talented newcomers have played in the Wolfpack's two fall tournaments, but on Sunday they collided in the semifinals of the Southern Intercollegiate Championships at Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Powell, the freshman from Muscle Shoals, Ala., beat Mudge in three sets to earn the right to play in Monday morning's Division II finals, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. He will face Kentucky's Alejandro Gomez Monday at 10 a.m.
It was a close match throughout, and Mudge's victory in the opener is the first set Powell has lost in the first three days of the tournament. But Powell came back strong to win the final two sets.
"It's kind of unfortunate that we had to play against each other," Powell said. "But it was also a lot of fun, being out there and playing for the chance to go to the finals."
And that's what kept an exhausted Mudge, from Mooresville, N.C., going throughout his fourth extended match of the tournament. Three of his five matches in the tournament went three sets, and three of his sets needed tiebreakers.
So facing Powell in the semifinals was almost a relief.
"The good thing was that we knew NC State would be going to the finals, regardless of who won," Mudge said.
Powell advanced earlier in the day by beating Vanderbilt's Jeff Offerdahl, 6-2, 6-3. Mudge advanced by beating Auburn's Jeff Lopasso, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
"It's been great experience for them to play in this tournament," said Wolfpack head coach Jon Choboy. "It's unfortunate they had to play against each other, but the experience and the competition here is going to be invaluable to them when we begin our regular season in January."
Junior Will Rollinson and doubles partner Mauricio Antun of Virginia Tech lost in the quarterfinals of Division II doubles to Auburn's Lopasso and Raphael Rondino, 8-4.
Rollinson also won his match on Sunday in the Division III singles bracket, topping Kentucky's Matt Davis, 6-2, 6-4.
In Charlottesville, Va., Dominic Hodgson took seventh place in the Orange singles at the UVa Ranked +1 Invitational with a victory over Maryland's John Collins, who withdrew from Sunday's match with an injury.
