North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Hosts No. 36 Virginia Commonwealth
2/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 28, 2012
Match notes (2/29/12) 
| Live Results
UPDATED 2/29/2012: With new Campbell's ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.
RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC State men's tennis team will put its 10-game home winning streak on the line Wednesday against No. 36 Virginia Commonwealth in the Wolfpack's first midweek match of the season.
The No. 34 Pack hasn't lost a match it has hosted since falling to top-ranked Virginia on April 8, 2011, at Pullen Park. State beat Virginia Tech in its final home match of 2011 and has won nine straight indoor matches to start the 2012 season.
Wednesday's match is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Isenhour Tennis Center. Weather permitting, it will be played on the new Curtis and Jacqueline Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium, though the forecast calls for afternoon showers.
The Wolfpack (11-1), which has more wins than any other ACC team, moved up 14 spots in the latest Campbell's ITA Collegiate Tennis rankings, released late Tuesday. Senior Jaime Pulgar (9-1) moved from No. 110 to No. 86 in the singles rankings.
Virginia Commonwealth (12-2) moved up two spots after winning seven of their last eight matches. The Rams are coming off a 4-1 victory over Nebraska in Richmond on Monday morning for their 10th consecutive home win of the season.
The Rams are 2-2 away from home this season. Both losses have come against ACC opponents, Duke in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and at Maryland. VCU also has a 4-2 victory over Wake Forest.
Wednesday's match is a rare home contest over the next month for the Wolfpack, which just began a streak of seven of its next 11 matches on the road. Head coach Jon Choboy's got its road test off to a strong start with a 7-0 victory at Northwestern on Saturday.
The Pack trails in the overall series against the Rams, 3-4.
Choboy's team is coming off a come-from-behind victory at No. 57 Northwestern on Saturday for its first road win of the season.
The Wolfpack won the doubles point for the 11th time this season, then dropped the first set in four of its six singles matches. Freshmen Robbie Mudge and Beck Bond won their matches in two sets against the Wildcats, then the rest of the team came back to take three-set victories for the 7-0 sweep.
It was the first of seven road contests in the Pack's next 11 matches. In its only other road match this season, the Wolfpack lost to No. 7 Kentucky in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lexington, Ky.
The win at Northwestern was the Wolfpack's fourth this season over a ranked team and was the first in a stretch of three consecutive matches against opponents in the Campbell's ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. The Pack also has wins over No. 58 East Tennessee State, No. 45 Cornell and No. 48 South Carolina.
The Wolfpack is led by Pulgar, a two-time All-ACC selection whose only loss of the season was to fifth-ranked Eric Quigley of Kentucky Fellow seniors Dominic Hodgson and Julian Sullivan give the Wolfpack's lineup experience. Hodgson 5-3 overall this season, while Sullivan has won five consecutive matches.
But the Wolfpack has also gotten strong contributions from a trio of freshmen in its lineup.
Powell and Robbie Mudge of Winston-Salem, N.C., remain undefeated on the season with a combined 18-0, while freshman Beck Bond of Meriden, Conn., has lost just once in his first seven matches.
Mudge (10-0) has won matches at Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. He's played the majority of his matches at No. 3, where he is 6-0. He played his first match in the No. 1 slot against UNC Greensboro's Orcun Seyrek. After losing his first three games, Mudge came back to win 12 of the next 13 games to take a 6-4, 6-0 victory. He has yet to lose a set this season.
Powell (8-0) has won three matches at No. 4 and four at No. 5. He also won his only match at No. 2 earlier this season. Powell had a successful fall tournament season, posting a 9-3 record in his four tournaments. He has a combined 16-3 record in his initial season.
Beck (6-1) lost his first match of the season to South Carolina's Kyle Koch, 6-2, 6-2, after the overall match had been secured by the Wolfpack. He bounced back to win his next three, improving State's record in No. 6 singles to 8-2.
