RALEIGH, N.C. -- Celebrating his birthday and with the match tied at 3-all, junior Robbie Mudge of NC State sealed the squad’s 4-3 victory against No. 12 Notre Dame in a decisive third set Sunday afternoon at the Dail Outdoor Tennis Stadium. With the victory, the No. 42 Wolfpack improves to 14-7 on the season while the Fighting Irish fall to 14-8 overall.
The Pack opened the match by claiming the crucial doubles point for the 17th time this season with wins at the Nos. 1 and 3 positions.
At the top spot of the order, the duo of Mudge and Ian Dempster claimed an upset victory against Notre Dame’s seventh-ranked tandem of Greg Andrews and Alex Lawson 8-3. The win for Mudge and Dempster is their 16th of the dual season, as the pair is now tied for sixth in the program record books for wins by a doubles team in a dual season. The Fighting Irish answered with a victory at the No. 2 position, as Sean Weber and Nick Horton dropped a hard-fought match to Josh Hagar and Billy Pecor, 8-7 (6).
State sealed the doubles point with a win at the No. 3 spot in the order, as Austin Powell and Simon Norenius edged Eddy Covalschi and Quentin Monaghan 8-7 (4).
A native of Sydney, Australia, Horton captured the first singles match of the day to extend the Wolfpack lead to 2-0. He was able to break serve in the final game of the match to clinch the 6-4, 6-4 victory. The win is Horton’s third consecutive and 17th of the season.
Notre Dame secured a win at the No. 5 spot in the order, as Weber dropped the final home singles match of his career to Covalschi 6-1, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Norenius answered back for State with his 19th victory of the season with a 6-4, 7-5 victory from the No. 4 spot in the order against Notre Dame’s Hagar. A native of Katrineholm, Sweden, he extended his current winning streak to six consecutive matches.
The Fighting Irish secured the match on court No. 3, as Thomas Weigel dropped a hard-fought match against Bandy 6-4, 6-4, while Powell dropped a hard-fought match against Andrews 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at the top spot in the lineup.
After splitting the first two sets of the match, Mudge and Monaghan battled to a decisive third set at the No. 2 position in the order. Mudge was able to break serve and won the first three games of the set to take a 3-0 lead, before Monaghan battled back to get the match back on serve at 4-5. However, Mudge was able to break once again to take the final game and seal the 4-3 victory for the Wolfpack with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win. He has won three of his past four matches and owns 19 victories for the season.
