Last weekend Cornell (2-2) hit the road traveling to Columbus, Ohio, where it faced No. 3 Ohio State before taking on No. 28 Notre Dame. The Red lost both matchups, 5-1, 2-2, respectively. The team will be back on the road again this weekend, trekking to Raleigh, N.C., to take the court against No. 57 North Carolina State (5-1). 

The Wolfpack is coming off of a split weekend, losing to No. 7 Kentucky (5-0) early in the day, 4-0, before coming back and topping No. 58 East Tennessee State (0-2), 4-0, in the Intercollgiate Tennis Association’s kickoff event.

In preparation for the game against the Wolfpack, Cornell is not focused on any individual N.C. State players — such as No. 114 singles player Jaime Pulgar, according to sopohmore Evan McElwain. Instead the team is focused on improving its own playing stlye. 

According to McElwain, head coach Silviu Tanasoiu has shown his players that if they focus on correcting the finer points of their game, instead of focusing on their opponents, then they will play better.

“We aren’t really focused on individual matches that much,” McElwain said. “We are more focused on what we are doing — making sure we are doing all of the little things right, in order to put ourselves in position to win.”

McElwain said he felt that focusing too heavily on his opponent’s weaknesses detracts from his own overall game.­­

“Who are you playing? What are their weaknesses? When you are thinking about these things your game isn’t as smooth or natural,” McElwain said. “The whole time you are thinking, ‘coach said this guy had a weaker backhand,’ or ‘I need to approach this down the line.’ But with that it usually interfered with your decision making. So with the new coach we focus on ourselves a lot more and our decision making, shot selection etc., and that helps us to build up our confidence no matter who we are playing.”

The Red needs to stay aggressive throughout the match to maintain an offensive edge, according to McElwain.

“We need to stay aggressive throughout the whole game — to keep going for shots as the match gets tighter in the second and third sets,” he said. “We just have to keep playing aggressively at the baseline and move up the court if possible, and make the most out of our opportunities to close out matches.”

The Red has a predominantly younger roster this season, adding eight new freshmen to offset last year’s large graduating class. However, the Red does not feel that this will hold the team back in competition, according to McElwain.

“We are a very deep team, so I think that any team we match up against, including a tough N.C. State team,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for people like freshmen Jason Luu and Alex Sidney to step up and make big contributions in singles play. They were two guys who had close losses in Ohio, so I am sure that they will be hungry to get some wins under their belt.”