The No. 34 Miami Hurricanes closed out their road trip Sunday against the No. 5 North Carolina State Wolfpack, losing 4-0 in deflating fashion.
Against a top team like NC State, it’s important to get ahead early. And while Miami desperately tried, it dropped the doubles point for the fourth match in a row.
The ’Cane pairing of Nacho Serra Sanchez and Leonardo Dal Boni fell 6-2 to No. 12 Jules Leroux and Luca Staeheli. The doubles point was then clinched by the Wolfpack pairing of No. 8 Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek, who defeated Miami’s top pairing of Martin Katz and Antonio Prat.
Despite their efforts, things didn’t get better for the Hurricanes (8-2, 2-4 ACC) in singles play.
In the top singles match, NC State (14-4, 6-0 ACC) continued its momentum as No. 42 Katz fell 6-3, 6-4 to No. 24 Shick. The Wolfpack lead was extended to three after Sambeek took down sophomore Mehdi Sadaoui, 6-3, 6-2. And with the match in clinching distance, No. 55 Staeheli defeated Sanchez 6-4, 6-3 to secure the NC State win.
UM has had a rough ACC road trip, losing all four matches in sweeping fashion. Each team Miami has faced during this stretch was a top-30 opponent, namely No. 1 Wake Forest, the aforementioned No. 5 NC State and No. 9 Stanford. Such experience against top opponents means the ’Canes should be well prepared to reset and get back in the swing of things as they return home to take on Colgate on March 18 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.