North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Tennis Faces Boston College at ACC Championships
4/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 18, 2012
Weekly release (4-18-2012) 
| Season stats
RALEIGH, N.C. – The No. 38 and sixth-seeded NC State men’s tennis team will face 11th-seeded Boston College on Thursday in the first round of the ACC Championships at the Cary (N.C.) Tennis Park.
Earlier this season, the Wolfpack swept all six singles matches and two of three doubles matches against the Eagles at the Curtis and Jacqueline Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium. It was the ninth shutout of the season for the Pack, which ties for the second most in school history.
The Wolfpack owns an all-time record of 10-0 against Boston College, the ACC’s newest member.
The Pack has been eliminated in the first round of the last two ACC Championship tournaments, but advanced to the quarterfinals in 2004, ‘08 and ‘09 under head coach Jon Choboy.
The Wolfpack is seeded sixth in the tournament after finishing in a tie for sixth place with Clemson. It won the tiebreaker by virtue of its 4-3 victory over the No. 71 Tigers in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The winner of Thursday’s 3 match will play third-seeded Duke on Friday at 3 p.m. at the Cary Tennis Park. Earlier this year, in the ACC-opener for both teams, Duke took a 4-3 victory at Dail Stadium.
By winning his last five matches, No. 35 senior Jaime Pulgar now has 75 career singles victories, tying him with former All-American Andy Andrews for fifth place on NC State’s all-time career victories list. Jay Weinacker (2005-09), Pulgar’s former doubles teammate in 2009, owns the school records with 106 career singles victories.
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2012 ACC Pairings
April 19-22
Cary Tennis Park
at Cary, N.C.
Thursday
9 a.m. - No. 8 Georgia Tech (9-12 overall, 4-7 ACC) vs. No. 9 Maryland (7-14, 4-7)
Noon - No. 5 Florida State (16-8, 7-5) vs. No. 12 Miami (8-12, 1-10)
Noon - No. 7 Clemson (9-13, 5-6) vs. No. 10 Wake Forest (12-14, 3-8)
3 p.m. - No. 6 NC State (19-8, 5-6) vs. No. 11 Boston College (5-14, 1-10)
Friday
9 a.m. - No. 1 Virginia (21-1, 11-0) vs. Georgia Tech-Maryland winner Noon - No. 4 Virginia Tech (11-10, 7-4) vs. Florida State-Miami winner
Noon - No. 2 North Carolina 12-6, 9-2) vs. Clemson-Wake Forest winner
3 p.m. - No. 3 Duke ( 20-4, 9-2) vs. NC State-Boston College winner
Saturday
10 a.m. - Semifinal (Friday morning's winners) 1 p.m. - Semifinal (Friday afternoon's winners)
Sunday
11 a.m. - Championship (Saturday's winners)
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Pulgar also recently moved into fourth place all-time in career doubles with 60. Weinacker and William Noblitt (2004-07) are tied for the school record with 87 career doubles victories each.
Pulgar has posted a 5-4 record against ranked opponents this season while playing solely at No. 1 singles. Three of his four losses have been to players ranked in the top 10: Duke’s Henrique Cunha, Virginia’s Jarmere Jenkins and Kentucky’s Eric Quigley.
He won matches over No. 21 Kevin King of Georgia Tech, the second hightest ranked player Pulgar has ever beaten. He scored a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 5 Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech in 2010.
Pulgar also beat No. 34 Jose Hernandez earlier this season. In addition to his 5-4 record against ranked opponents this season, he was 3-5 in 2011, 7-7 in 2010 and 0-1 in 2009.
Freshman Robbie Mudge of Winston-Salem, N.C., has moved into a tie for third place for the most wins by an NC State freshman. Mudge (19-6) is tied with former All-American Andy Andrews, who was 19-3 as a freshman in 1978, and Mark Dillon, who was 19-4 in his first year in 1979. Both Carl Baumgardner (1976) and John Joyce (1977) won 20 games in their first year.
Jay Weinacker, however, owns the school freshman and overall record with a 23-6 mark as a freshman ini 2006.
Mudge won his first 14 matches this season and has posted a 5-6 record in ACC play.
Freshman Austin Powell has proven to be a clutch player in his first season with the Wolfpack, especially when his match is extended to three sets.
After losing his first two three-set matches during the fall tournament season, Powell has come back to win 10 of his last 11 three-set matches in the spring and fall. His latest three-set win was in the decisive contest in the Wolfpack’s 4-3 win over Georgia Tech.
Powell is 9-1 in three-set matches and 16-6 overall this spring. He was 2-2 in three-set matches and 9-4 overall during the fall tournament season.
As a team, the Wolfpack is 38-15 in three-set matches, a winning percentage of .717. Pulgar leads the way with a perfect 9-0 record. In seven of Pulgar’s nine wins, he has come back to win after losing the first set. Half of his eight ACC wins have come after losing the first set.
