The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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88 ■ THE WOLFPACKER Cardinal International Trucks 1526 South Blount Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 (919) 832-5871 www.cardinalinternationaltrucks.com Noting The Pack • When head coach Kyle Spencer was at Mary- land, the ACC was a little different. Louisville re- placed the Terrapins, and Notre Dame was added to the league, along with Pittsburgh and Syracuse. Spencer expects a meat-grinder of an ACC sched- ule, and pointed out to the results of last year's NCAA Tournament as an example. "Wake Forest went to the NCAA Tournament last year as the No. 1 seed, and lost in the quarterfinals to North Carolina, who then made the NCAA finals and lost to Virginia," Spencer said. "If that is any indication on how tough our league is, you don't have to look further than that." Spencer doesn't expect many easy nights in the ACC. Miami also has a new coach, but the tennis traditions at the various schools are pretty good. Virginia, Wake Forest and North Carolina were ranked in the top three nationally, and Georgia Tech finished No. 19 in the final rankings, last year. "The ACC is the biggest challenge out there," Spencer said. "I'm not one to ever back away from a challenge. I'm a hyper-competitive person. "[Returning to the ACC] wasn't something that was on my mind, but when presented with the op - portunity, I jumped at the challenge." • Spencer isn't the only coach on the staff familiar with the ACC. New assistant coach Cris James has spent the last four years as the second assistant coach at Notre Dame. He previously was the head men's tennis coach at Illinois State from 2007-13. Notre Dame went to three NCAA Tournaments during James' tenure, reaching the Sweet 16 in 2014. James had ISU in the national rankings in 2010, won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and was named the league's coach of the year. James played at Purdue, earning All-Big Ten three times, and then went on to become an assistant coach for the Boilermakers from 2002-07. Junior Igor Saveljic, a native of Podgorica, Montenegro, has posted a 42-36 career re- cord in singles matches during his time at NC State. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS