North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 38 Wolfpack Takes on No. 12 Wake Forest
3/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
RALEIGH, N.C. - The No. 38 Wolfpack men's tennis team will continue conference play Saturday at 2 p.m.,as it takes on No. 12 Wake Forest. The match is NC State's sixth match in a row against a top-30 team.
Pack in the Polls
The Wolfpack moved to No. 38 in the latest ITA rankings. In singles, Robbie Mudge and Austin Powell are ranked No. 60 and No. 85, respectively. In doubles, the duo of Mudge and Ian Dempster is ranked No. 16.
Mudge's Time
Senior Robbie Mudge has beaten ranked opponents in his last three singles matches. These efforts have earned him the No. 60 singles ranking in the latest ITA poll, just a week after being unranked. He now has 13 wins on the season, while competing in the top half of the lineup.
Scouting Wake Forest
The No. 12 Demon Deacons are currently in the midst of a four-match road swing. They dropped the first leg to No. 6 Duke, 4-3. Next weekend they will travel to Clemson and Georgia Tech to conclude the road swing. The close loss dropped the Deacons to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
Wake Forest is led by eighth-ranked Romain Bogaerts in the most recent ITA singles poll. Rounding out singles rankings for the Deacs are Noah Rubin and Jonathon Ho, who rank No. 27 and No. 80, respectively.
In doubles, Wake is led by the pairing of Christian Seraphim and Skander Mansouri that check in at No. 10.
Coaches Comments:
On Play of Robbie Mudge:
"He's in a good place mentally, he has also been training well. He and other parts of the team are also starting to play with controlled energy. That's something that is going to lead the rest of the guys on the team. He has gotten to that point and some other guys also need to get to that point. He has played well the whole season." - Head Coach Jon Choboy
On Wake Forest:
"It's also a good match with them. Last year we won, 4-3, but they won the year before that. They're a really good team as well, and it will be a good matchup."
On Improvements in the Team:
"We're starting to play better as a team. We're more complete as we go out on the court. I think as we can continue to do that, we're going to be fine. We are starting to figure a few things out, which is helping us."
Last Time Out
The Wolfpack dropped a tightly contested 4-3 match to No. 16 Virginia Tech. Mudge and Beck Bond both collected wins against ranked foes while Thomas Weigel also picked up a victory for the Pack.
GoPack writer Frank Youngblood contributed to this report.
