Men’s tennis struggles, falls at No. 32 NC State

The Troy University men’s tennis team picked up another loss this season against No. 32 North Carolina State on Saturday, Feb. 13.

The Trojans (1-9) have faced numerous opponents with high-caliber players so far this season, and Saturday’s matchup was no different. They fell in Raleigh, North Carolina, by a score of 1-4.

Senior No. 114 Daniel Bustamante did not have an easy line one. He ended up losing his match 6-4, 6-1 to junior No. 53 Nick Horton.

Freshman Vaclav Slezak did not even have a chance to get a game off against North Carolina State’s line two singles player, senior Thomas Weigel, and lost 6-0, 6-0.

Junior Pablo Moreno pulled out Troy’s only win of the evening at line four singles with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over freshman Ivan Saveljic.

Senior Giovani Samaha put up a good fight against the No. 74 singles player in the country.

Senior Simon Norenius beat Samaha 7-5, 6-4, making it the closest match of the evening.

Sophomore Andy Lau’s line five singles match went unfinished against freshman Igor Saveljic in the first set at 5-4.

Freshman Tomas Fernandez’s match went unfinished against sophomore Shoti Meparidze at 4-1 in the first set.

Sophomore Andre Baldo and freshman Filip Mansson lost the line one doubles match in a close fight against Weigel and Norenius 6-4.

Lau and Moreno’s match was even closer, as it took the team of Horton and Meparidze an extra game to win 7-5.

Samaha and sophomore Austin Racine lost their line three singles by the same score, 7-5, to the team of Igor and Ivan Savelji.

The men’s next matchup will be against Sun Belt Conference opponent ULL in Lafayette, Louisiana on Thursday, Feb. 25.