The NC State women’s tennis team had an impressive and successful doubleheader weekend against ranked William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The Wolfpack (3-0, 0-0 ACC) fought hard against No. 42 William & Mary (4-2, 1-0 CAA) to clinch the 4-3 victory. This was the first loss for William & Mary against an unranked opponent this season. It was NC State’s first win against an opponent ranked in the top 50 in three years.
“Thank you Coach Sam Craven, those 6 a.m. workouts were worth it,” freshman Amanda Rebol said.
Rebol had a large role in the Wolfpack victory as her singles matches put the deciding point on the board for NC State against both opponents.
Sophomore Tayla Stenta also had an incredible day, sweeping her opponent for the second time this season. Stenta made a comeback win in the tiebreaker of her first set and quickly took the second set for her own winning 7-6 [7-3], 6-4 against Maria Groener of William and Mary.
“It was hard because we had our first two matches cancelled,” Stenta said. “Luckily we got some match play against ECU. It’s exciting to play someone who is ranked and see where we’re at.”
It was a tough start Saturday morning against William & Mary, but the Pack pulled through. The Tribe won the doubles point but after four of the six singles matches, NC State led 3-2.
Senior Joanna Nalborska put the heat on Tribe freshman Lauren Goodman as their singles match went to three sets. Nalborska lost the first 3-6 but was able to shake it off and take the next two 6-3.
Freshman Bianca Moldovan showed her strength against Tribe junior Marie Faure despite losing the match. Moldovan kept close in the first set, only down by one at the end 6-7. Faure pushed the freshman to her limits but Moldovan finished strong, losing 4-6.
The Wolfpack redeemed itself in doubles against VCU to take the point going into singles competition. Moldovan and Claudia Wiktorin took care of business to win 6-3 in doubles while Rebol and Nalborska pushed through to take their doubles match in a tiebreaker 7-6 [7-5].
“We had a close match with them [VCU] last season so we knew it was going to be tough.” Stenta said.
After an exhaustive first match, the Pack began to lose its momentum in singles against VCU. Moldovan was able to take a win after a three set match against Darya Berezhnaya. Freshman Barbara Mancera swept in her first collegiate singles win.
“We’re doing pretty well,” Stenta said of her team. “Everyone is excited and we all have a good attitude.”
NC State will travel to face LSU Feb. 12 and Louisiana-Lafayette Feb. 13 in the first away matches of the season.
