NC State battles to the end, falls to Harvard, 4-3

RALEIGH – No. 21 NC State men's tennis dropped its second straight match of the season on Friday night at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center with No.16 Harvard clipping the Pack 4-3.

Despite a strong showing from the Wolfpack in singles play, NC State was unable to overcome dropping the doubles point at the match's beginning.

Doubles (Harvard, 1-0)
A tightly-contested doubles session saw Harvard edge the Wolfpack to pick up an early 1-0 advantage.

While NC State jumped out to multiple early leads, a strong surge from the Crimson gave Harvard's Steven Sun and Ronan Jachuck a win over Martin Borisiouk and Joseph Wayland at 3-6, immediately followed by the Crimson clinching the doubles point by way of Harris Walker and Henry von der Schulenburg defeating NC State's Martins Rocens and Fons Van Sambeek 4-6.

The Pack's Luca Staeheli and Robin Catry held a 5-4 lead in the unfinished match as Harvard clinched.

Singles (Tie, 3-3)
A back-and-forth affair in singles play saw Harvard jump out to a quick 2-0 lead with von der Schulenburg winning in straight sets, 2-6, 2-6, over Rocens.

NC State then responded with back-to-back wins to knot the score at 2-2, with Braden Shick delivering a 6-4, 6-3, straight-set victory. Robin Catry additionally earned a crucial point for the Wolfpack, bouncing back from an opening-set loss by posting a 6-3, 6-2 duo of scores in the second and third sets.

With the team score locked at 2-2, the Wolfpack and Crimson would then split the next two matches with Harvard's Harris Walker defeating Rafa Izquierdo Luque in straight sets while NC State's Fons Van Sambeek defeated the Crimson's Valdemar Pape at 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

The contest came down to the seventh and final point of the evening, where Harvard's Steven Sun earned a straight-set win over Luca Staehili that including two dramatic tiebreakers, both finishing at 5-7, just enough for the Crimson to drop the Pack by a final tally of 4-3.

Results

No. 16 Harvard 4, No. 23 NC State 3
Doubles
Order of finish: (3, 2, 1 [unfinished])

1: Robin Catry/Luca Staeheli (NC State) def. Valdemar Pape/Daniel Milavsky (Harvard), 5-4

2: Harris Walker/Henry von der Schulenburg (Harvard) def. No. 38 Martins Rocens/Fons Van Sambeek (NC State), 4-6

3: Steven Sun/Ronan Jachuck (Harvard) def. Martin Borisiouk/Joseph Wayland (NC State), 3-6

Singles
Order of finish: (2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 5)

1: Harris Walker (Harvard) def. Rafa Izquierdo Luque (NC State), 4-6, 6-7 (4-7)

2: No. 22 Henry von der Schulenburg (Harvard) def. Martins Rocerns (NC State), 2-6, 2-6

3: Robin Catry (NC State) def. Ronan Jachuck (Harvard), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

4: Braden Shick (NC State) def. Daniel Milavsky (Harvard), 6-4, 6-3

5: Steven Sun (Harvard) def. Luca Staeheli (NC State), 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (5-7)

6: Fons Van Sambeek (NC State) def. Valdemar Pape (Harvard), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4

Up Next: Now sitting at 2-2 in dual-match action, the Wolfpack will shift its focus to a two-meet weekend at the ITA Weekend Kickoff in Columbia, S.C.

NC State's first action of the tournament will come against VCU on Saturday, Jan. 28.

NC State battles to the end, falls to Harvard, 4-3

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Martin Borisiouk

Braden Shick

Luca Staeheli

Fons Van Sambeek