The NC State women’s tennis team will be facing off against both Wichita State and Kansas on the road Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m., respectively.
The Wolfpack (0-2) comes into the weekend without a win after being defeated by both teams it faced at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, although both UCLA and Kentucky are either ranked or received votes in the poll this week. Kansas (1-2) received votes for ITA women’s tennis rankings and will pose another big challenge for the Pack. Wichita State (3-1), whose only loss this season was to No. 8 Texas Tech, is another formidable opponent.
The Wolfpack will be led into this doubleheader by No. 61 junior Claudia Wiktorin who while 4-4 has faced off against two ranked opponents this season and has held her own at 1-1 in those matches. Wiktorin, with her partner sophomore Anna Rogers, is 12-5 this season and currently ranked ninth in the Oracle rankings.
Another important key to victory will be the play of junior Amanda Rebol who is 6-3 so far this year in singles competition and 6-3 in doubles matches including a 2-0 record with senior Taylor Stenta and 4-3 with sophomore Adriana Reami.
Reami herself in singles competition is 7-4 with one unfinished match. In doubles matches however, she is 6-6 this season with a 2-3 record with junior Bianca Moldovan and the previously mentioned 4-3 with Rebol.
Stenta is 6-4 so far this season; she holds the best record in singles for the Wolfpack and her performance could go a long way to pulling NC State to a .500 record after this weekend in Kansas.
Wichita State won both the regular season and tournament championships in the MVC a year ago and is led by Giulia Guidetti who won the conference player of the year in 2017 and is 79-19 all time with the Shockers in singles matches. Senior Gabriela Porubin won conference player of the year back in 2016 and the freshman of the year in 2015 and is 77-29 in singles competition and 80-29 in doubles; she can be a serious threat in both formats. Sophomore Fatima Bizhukova has a 22-6 career record in singles matches and is 21-7 in doubles. Bizhukova and Pourbin form the No. 23 doubles pairing.
Kansas is led by the number one player in singles competition according to Oracle with Anastasia Rychagova who is 11-2 this season including a 7-2 record in doubles with Nina Khmelnitckaia matches and a 3-0 record with Despoina Vogasari as her current doubles partner. Kansas also has No. 94 Vogasari who is 12-7 thus far this season in singles and No. 112 Khmelnitckaia who is 10-6 on the season and along with Vogasari is 5-5 in her last 10 matches. Khmelnitckaia along with Rychagova ranks No. 38 in the doubles ranking, giving the team of Wiktorin and Rogers two huge challenges this weekend as they look to move up the rankings.
The Wolfpack will need to perform well in matches against unranked opponents as those are the team’s best shots at victory this weekend if they are to win as Kansas’ three ranked players won’t be easy to get wins on and Wichita State has some players that are very good and could prove to be tough outs for the Wolfpack as well.
Freshman Anna Rogers returns a ball from Christina Brigante, a junior at the University of Oklahoma during the Wolfpack Invitational on Sept. 23, 2016, at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
