Maryland Edged by Wolfpack
April 16, 2010
RALEIGH, N.C. - The Maryland men's tennis team pushed No. 50 N.C. State to the limit Friday afternoon, but the Terps were unable to emerge with a victory, falling 4-3.
Maryland (13-11, 1-9 Atlantic Coast Conference) dropped the doubles point to fall behind early, but came out fighting to start singles play against the Wolfpack (14-11, 2-8 ACC).
At No. 5 singles, the Terps' Ryan Lissner picked up Maryland's first point with a dominating victory over N.C. State's Rob Lowe, 6-2, 6-1, drawing the match even at one point apiece.
Graham Knowlton furthered the Terrapins' cause with a win at No. 6 singles. Knowlton defeated Akash Gujarati 6-2, 6-4, earning his first ACC singles victory of 2010 in the process.
Maryland's last singles victory of the day came at No. 4 singles, thanks to a strong effort from Jesse Kiuru. Kiuru took his first set against N.C. State's Rafael Paez in a close contest, but dropped the second set to send the match to a deciding third set.
Kiuru recovered in the third set and came back to win the match against Paez, emerging with a 7-5, 0-6, 6-4 victory.
Unfortunately, the Terps would be unable to pick up another win on the day, and N.C. State's Dave Thomson held off Sergio Wyss in a tiebreaker at No. 3 singles to clinch the match for the Wolfpack with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory.
Maryland will wrap up its 2010 regular season on Sunday, when the Terps visit No. 23 Wake Forest. The match will start at noon at the Leighton Tennis Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
