The Florida State University men's and women's tennis teams faced off against North Carolina State in Atlantic Coast Conference matches Friday.
MEN'S MATCH
Florida State 4, North Carolina State 3
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The No. 29 FSU men’s tennis team recorded a big ACC victory Friday night. The Seminoles took down No. 20 NC State 4-3 in a back-and-forth match that saw three singles matches go to a third set, of which FSU won two to clinch the win. Florida State is now 10-2 overall, 1-0 in the conference and a perfect 8-0 at home.
“That was a great college match,” said FSU Head Coach Dwayne Hultquist. “It was three-and-a-half hours of back-and-forth. They are a really good team and they have a lot of really good players. They are strong all the way through the line. It was a really good win for us and a great start to the ACC season.
“We are a young team. Today we played three freshmen and two sophomores. I really like how we are improving. We are getting better. It’s just the start of conference play but we are starting to compile wins.”
The doubles point was a battle as the Seminoles faced two nationally ranked pairs. Josh Dous-Karpenschif and Maks Silagy got FSU off to a 1-0 lead on line three with a 6-3 win. The Wolfpack evened it up on court one as the nation’s 51st-ranked pair got the win for NCST. On court two, Andy Petrovic and Youcef Rihane faced the nation’s No. 34 pair and took them to a tiebreaker before falling 6-7 (5-7).
Singles ended up being just as tight as doubles. Moving up to line two didn’t seem to faze Petrovic at all as he was the first off evening the match at 1-1 with a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over the ITA’s No. 101 singles player. The Wolfpack retook the lead with a win on line six, but Loris Pourroy continued his impressive dual match campaign with a 7-5, 6-1 win over the nation’s 84th-ranked singles player as he moved to 8-1 in duals evening the match at 2-2.
“I was really pleased with how our guys played at one and two,” said Hultquist. “They were able to get off quickly.”
The last three matches all went to a third set. The Wolfpack took the first of the three-set matches on court three to pull within one point of the victory at 3-2. It didn’t take long for the Seminoles to drawback to even at 3-3. Richard Thongoana bounced back after dropping his first set 5-7 to win the next two 6-3, 6-4 leaving the match up to court five where Dous-Karpenschif cruised in the third to secure the FSU win. The freshman won 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-2 to clinch the match.
WOMEN'S MATCH
North Carolina State 6, Florida State 1
RALEIGH N.C. - FSU’s Petra Hule pulled off a major upset Friday defeating the nation’s ninth-ranked singles player but the 25th-ranked FSU women’s tennis team had to play short-handed once again Friday due to injury. With just two doubles teams and five singles players, the Seminoles (6-4, 1-2) were unable to upset the nation’s second-ranked team falling 6-1 to NC State (12-1, 1-0).
Despite starting 0-1 down in doubles, the Seminoles pushed two ranked doubles teams as they fought to take the match’s first point. Kianah Motosono and Olympe Lancelot faced off versus the No. 51 doubles pair dropping the match and the point with a 4-6 result. On court one, Petra Hule and Anna Arkadianou faced the nation’s No. 16 doubles pair and had them even at 5-5 when the point was decided.
In singles, all eyes were on court one where Hule, ranked No. 33 in the nation, faced off against No. 10 Jaeda Daniel. Hule dropped the first set 0-6 before fighting back to take set two 6-3. Hule dominated the tiebreaker winning 10-3. This was the third ranked win of the dual match season for the Australian who came into 2022 with seven career wins over nationally-ranked singles opponents.
“That was a great college match,” said FSU Head Coach Dwayne Hultquist. “It was three-and-a-half hours of back-and-forth. They are a really good team and they have a lot of really good players. They are strong all the way through the line. It was a really good win for us and a great start to the ACC season.
“We are a young team. Today we played three freshmen and two sophomores. I really like how we are improving. We are getting better. It’s just the start of conference play but we are starting to compile wins.”
The doubles point was a battle as the Seminoles faced two nationally ranked pairs. Josh Dous-Karpenschif and Maks Silagy got FSU off to a 1-0 lead on line three with a 6-3 win. The Wolfpack evened it up on court one as the nation’s 51st-ranked pair got the win for NCST. On court two, Andy Petrovic and Youcef Rihane faced the nation’s No. 34 pair and took them to a tiebreaker before falling 6-7 (5-7).
Singles ended up being just as tight as doubles. Moving up to line two didn’t seem to faze Petrovic at all as he was the first off evening the match at 1-1 with a straight-set 6-4, 6-3 win over the ITA’s No. 101 singles player. The Wolfpack retook the lead with a win on line six, but Loris Pourroy continued his impressive dual match campaign with a 7-5, 6-1 win over the nation’s 84th-ranked singles player as he moved to 8-1 in duals evening the match at 2-2.
“I was really pleased with how our guys played at one and two,” said Hultquist. “They were able to get off quickly.”
