North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Hits Road To Virginia Tech, Virginia
3/29/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 29, 2012
Match notes (3/30/2012) 
|2012 season stats
NC State at Virginia Tech, 2:30 p.m., Friday
NC State at Virginia, 1 p.m., Sunday
RALEIGH, N.C. -- After splitting its Florida matches at Miami and at first-place Florida State, the NC State men’s tennis team finishes its extensive road trip with a pair of matches against its northern neighbors.
The Pack, led by No. 35 Jaime Pulgar, will face the No. 63 Hokies at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Blacksburg, Va., then travel to Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday for a 1 p.m. match against No. 4 Virginia to complete the five-match road swing against ACC opponents.
Pulgar, a two-time All-ACC selection, zoomed to No. 35 in the most recent singles ranking following his victory over North Carolina’s Jose Hernandez, who was ranked No. 34 nationally at the time. The lefthander from Madrid, Spain, has been steady all season at the top of the lineup for the Wolfpack, posting a 15-2 overall record, including a pair of wins against Miami and Florida State.
He is 2-2 against ranked opponents. His two losses are to No. 5 Eric Quigley of Kentucky during the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in January and No. 4 Henrique Cunha of Duke. Pulgar could face difficult assignments this weekend against top-ranked Mitchell Frank of Virginia and No. 119 Luka Somen of Virginia Tech.
Live results for both of the Wolfpack’s matches this weekend are available at the above links.
The Cavaliers are a half-match behind the first-place Seminoles in the ACC standings with a 5-0 league mark. No. 63 Virginia Tech is a half-match ahead of the Wolfpack in seventh place with a 2-3 mark.
Last year, the Wolfpack broke a four-match losing streak against the No. 23 Hokies with a 4-3 victory at Raleigh’s Pullen Park, the temporary home of the Wolfpack last year. Virginia Tech answered with a 4-3 victory in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C. The Hokies own a 10-6 record in the series.
Virginia owns a 45-9 overall record in the series against the Wolfpack, including 14 consecutive wins. The match against the Cavs will be the Wolfpack’s third this season against a Top 10 opponent, following a loss to No. 7 Kentucky in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and its ACC opener against No. 6 Duke.
The Wolfpack is 2-4 on the road so far this season and 6-5 against teams ranked in the Campbell’s ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings.
The Wolfpack returns home on Friday, April 6, to begin a stretch of five ACC matches in 10 days.
Four of those matches will be at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, beginning on Friday, April 6, against Boston College at 2:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 7, against Maryland at noon.
After a mid-week trip to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on April 10, the Wolfpack will close out its regular season with matches against Georgia Tech on April 13 and Clemson on April 15.
