NC State
TCU
#20 Pack Set for Super Regional Matchup
5/13/2022 10:52:00 AM | Men's Tennis
RALEIGH - The No. 20 NC State men's tennis team is set to compete in its first Round of 16 matchup since 2007 Saturday as it travels to top-seeded TCU for a 4 pm. matchup.
PACK IN THE RANKINGS
NC State is ranked 20th as a team in the ITA rankings and holds one singles ranking as well as a pair of doubles spots.
Rafa Izquierdo Luque ranks 98th in singles action while the duo of Fons Van Sambeek and Martins Rocens rank 54th nationally in doubles. Luca Staeheli and Robin Catry round out the rankings with a 63rd position in doubles.
LAST TIME OUT
NC State won a thriller in its round of 32 matchup with No. 19 Middle Tennessee, coming out of a match that last nearly five and a half hours with a 4-3 win
The Pack opened the competition by winning a tightly-contested doubles point with a pair of tiebreaker wins. Middle Tennessee got up in the team score with the initial two singles wins of the matches, but Izquierdo Luque and Rocens got wins to get NC State back on track.
Middle Tennessee evened things back up with a win on court five, but Braden Shick was able to close things out for the Pack on court six to clinch the victory.
SCOUTING THE HORNED FROGS
TCU has won matches over 11 top-25 opponents in 2022, including a pair of wins against teams that were, at the time of the matches, ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Horned Frogs now hold that No. 1 ranking themselves. The team additionally won the program's first ITA Indoors National Championship in 2022 with a win over then-No. 3 Tennessee.
The Horned Frogs have five ranked singles players with Luc Fomba at No. 12, Juan Carlos Aguilar at No. 16, Alexander Jong at No. 72, Jacob Fearnley at No. 95 and Lui Maxted at No. 104. In doubles, Fearnley and Fomba check in at No. 1 while Jong and Maxted rank 10th. Maxted is additionally ranked with Pedro Vives Marcos at No. 11
UP NEXT
With a win, NC State would advance to the NCAA quarterfinals where it would face the winner of Wake Forest and Kentucky's round of 16 matchup. It would mark the second time in program history that the Wolfpack has advanced to the quarterfinals.
#GoPack | @PackMensTennis
Players Mentioned
