Pack Takes Down Duke to Capture I-40 Cup

RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC State men's golf team edged Duke, 4.5-3.5, in match play on Friday at the Carolina Country Club to capture the I-40 Cup.

Maximilian Steinlechner, Easton Paxton, Brandon Einstein and Jake Wiktor won their individual matches to score points for the Pack while Thomas Deal halved his match.

Steinlechner was tied in his match with Duke's Ian Siebers when the players made the turn, but wins on the 10th, 14th and 16th holes allowed the Austria native to close out the win.

Paxton won a dandy of match with Duke's Quinn Riley to secure another point for the Pack. The two players who finished 1st (Riley) and tied for second (Paxton) at last week's Wolfpack Intercollegiate engaged in an entertaining match that saw no player have a lead bigger than 1 up the entire match. A birdie on 17 gave Paxton a one hole lead and the player's tied on the 18th hole to give Paxton the match.

Wiktor sprinted out to a three up lead through five holes in his match with Qi wen Wong. Wong battled back to tie through eight holes with three consecutive wins. Wiktor methodically rebuilt his lead though, winning four of the next six holes to go three up with four holes to play, and then held on for a 2&1 win.

Einstein cruised to a 6&5 win, dropping only one hole while winning seven in his match.

Deal was clutch late in his match, winning the 18th hole to halve his match with Daniel Urange and preserve an NC State win.

The Pack is back in action April 22 when it begins play at the ACC Championship held at Shark's Tooth Golf Club in Panama City Beach, Fla. The teams will play three rounds of stroke play Friday through Sunday. The top four teams after stroke play will advance to Monday's match play to determine the ACC Champion. Last season was the first year with this format, the Pack finished in third place in stroke play to advance to match play where it fell to eventual ACC Champion, Clemson, 3.5-1.5.

I-40 Cup Match Play Results
Maximilian Steinlechner (NC State) def. Ian Siebers (Duke), 3&2
Jimmy Zheng (Duke) def. Spencer Oxendine (NC State), 5&4
Easton Paxton (NC State) def. Quinn Riley (Duke), 1 up
Jake Wiktor (NC State) def. Qi wen Wong (Duke), 2&1
Thomas Deal (NC State) halved Daniel Uranga (Duke)
Brandon Einstein (NC State) def. John Peters (Duke), 6&5
Kelly Chinn (Duke) def. Carter Graf (NC State), 5&3
Luke Sample (Duke) def. Ethan Choi (NC State), 3&2

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Players Mentioned

Ethan Choi

Thomas Deal

Brandon Einstein

Carter Graf

Spencer Oxendine

Easton Paxton

Maximilian Steinlechner

Jake Wiktor