On March 10, the Delaware men’s tennis team left College Park as the 13th victim of the season for the then-No. 73 Terrapin men’s tennis team. The match gave the Terps a 13-2 record, good for the program’s best start to a season since 1986.
The match also marked the end of the Terps’ nonconference schedule. They have since lost to eight consecutive ranked ACC opponents, often handily.
This weekend, they have an opportunity to return to their winning ways when they wrap up play in a conference that hasn’t done them any favors. The Terps (13-10, 1-8 ACC) finish the regular season this weekend with road matches Friday against No. 50 N.C. State (13-11, 1-8) and against No. 23 Wake Forest (11-8, 5-4) on Sunday, two teams that, like the Terps, find themselves in the bottom half of the ACC’s standings.
“This is the weekend — this is crunch time,” coach Kyle Spencer said. “We’re going to have to do some work this weekend and in the ACC Tournament if we have any hope of making the NCAA Tournament.”
While that might seem to be an unlikely destination for the Terps, this weekend could jump-start their journey to an at-large bid. Spencer said bids generally depend on a team’s number of wins and overall ranking, and the Terps have work to do in both categories.
But the Terps may have a model for hope in the Wolfpack. Despite a 1-8 conference record, N.C. State has a favorable national ranking and stands on the cusp of an at-large selection.
“We’re eyeing this weekend as a chance to put everything together,” Spencer said. “We’re just going to go out there and continue to outwork people, like we always try to do.”
The Terps will be without sophomore Matt Sarrazin, the team’s most experienced player, for the second straight weekend after learning his stress fracture in his foot will sideline him for the remainder of the season.
“Any time that you’re without one of the guys that’s played a lot, it presents an issue,” Spencer said. “But the guys all know that they can be called on at any time.”
Junior Graham Knowlton, who has played sparingly since transferring from Bradley after his freshman year, will likely be Sarrazin’s replacement. Knowlton lost in straight sets in both matches at No. 6 singles last weekend while filling in for Sarrazin.
The Terrapin women’s tennis team (4-11, 0-9) will also wrap up its regular season this weekend with three matches in three days. It hosts No. 37 N.C. State today and No. 50 Wake Forest on Sunday, with a recently scheduled match against unranked Richmond sandwiched in between on Saturday.
cwalsh@umdbk.com
