No. 22 NC State To Face No. 39 Miami In ACC Championship Opener

April 25, 2018

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RALEIGH, N.C. - The No. 22 NC State men's tennis team will face No. 39 Miami in its opening match of the 2018 ACC Men's Tennis Championship, which will be held this weekend at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

The Wolfpack (16-7, 6-6 ACC) enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed and will match up against the No. 10-seeded Hurricanes (14-11, 4-8 ACC) Thursday at 5 p.m. in the second round.

CHAMPIONSHIP INFO:
Tournament action begins Wednesday and will run through Sunday afternoon. The semifinal matches on Saturday and the championship match on Sunday will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

After a competitive regular season, 10 ACC teams enter the tournament ranked in the top 50 of the Oracle/ITA team standings. Two of those squads are top-10 programs.

Single-day admission to the event is $9 for adults and $7 for children nine and over and seniors 55 and over. Admission is free for children under the age of nine and for college students of ACC schools who bring a valid student ID. Fans can also purchase passes for all days of the championship at the price of $17 for adults and $13 for children nine and over and seniors 55 and over.

To keep up with the tournament action on social media, fans can follow @ACCTennis on Twitter and can use #ACCMTEN to take part in the conversation around the matches.

WOLFPACK IN THE RANKINGS:
NC State moved up three spots in the team standings this week to earn a No. 22 ranking. The Wolfpack is one of four ACC teams that finds itself ranked in the top 25 headed into the postseason.

Alexis Galarneau and Michael Ogden jumped from No. 68 to No. 50 in the doubles rankings after defeating the then-No. 34 Wake Forest duo of Petros Chrysochos and Bar Botzer Sunday afternoon. The pair registered the first of two doubles wins for the Pack on the way to helping NC State clinch the doubles point against the top-ranked Deacs.

Two of NC State's players are ranked in singles, with Galarneau remaining in the top 50 at No. 45 and Igor Saveljic holding the No. 123 spot. It marks the third-straight week that the two are both featured in the singles rankings.

PACK TRACKS:
Since entering the team rankings for the first time this season on Feb. 20, NC State has yet to fall out of the top 30. The Wolfpack has been ranked as high as No. 16 on two occasions this season.

Tadas Babelis and Georgiy Malyshev have won nine of their last ten doubles contests, with one unfinished contest against Notre Dame, and have not dropped a doubles match since March 16. The two have joined forces at the number three spot in 11 of the Wolfpack's 12 conference matches and have built up a team-best 9-1 doubles record in ACC competition.

SCOUTING THE HURRICANES:
The Hurricanes posted a 4-8 conference record during the regular season. All four of Miami's conference wins came against ranked ACC opponents, with the team's most recent victory coming in a 4-3 win over then-No. 22 Duke.

As a team, Miami entered the rankings for the first time this season on March 27 and have remained ranked since. The Hurricanes enter Thursday's matchup with a season-high ranking of No. 39.

Freshman Adria Soriano Barrera sits at a career-high No. 67 in the singles rankings. He is also ranked in doubles with Christian Langmo, with the pair checking in at No. 22.

The squads met earlier in the regular season in a match that the Hurricanes took by a 4-3 decision that came down to the final singles court. Thursday will mark first time since 2010 that NC State faces Miami in the ACC Championships.

LAST TIME OUT:
The Wolfpack finished its regular season with a battle at No. 1 Wake Forest, falling just short in a 4-3 match with the Demon Deacs, who enter the ACC Championships as the event's top seed.

NC State took the opening point with gutsy doubles play on all three courts. Galarneau and Ogden broke Chrysochos and Botzer in the final game of their match to win 6-4 on court one, and Malyshev and Babelis defeated Alan Gadjiev and Borna Gojo 7-5 on court three.

Malyshev and Robert Turzak each tallied three-set wins for the Wolfpack in singles.

TOURNAMENT OUTLOOK:
A win on Thursday evening would advance NC State to the quarterfinals for the third-straight year where it would match up with No. 2 seed and sixth-ranked UNC-Chapel Hill.

#GoPack | @PackMensTennis

No. 22 NC State To Face No. 39 Miami In ACC Championship Opener

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Players Mentioned

Tadas Babelis

Alexis Galarneau

Georgiy Malyshev

Michael Ogden

Igor Saveljic

Robert Turzak