The N.C. State women’s tennis team routed the Winthrop Eagles, 6-1, Thursday afternoon at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center to close out the non-conference part of the season.
State (7-3 overall) began by winning the doubles point despite an uncharacteristic loss by the Wolfpack’s No. 1 doubles team of juniors Nicole Martinez and Elisha Hande. The two played fiercely but were not able to scrape out the win, falling to Winthrop’s No. 1 team of senior Andressa Garcia and sophomore Alice Garcia.
The Wolfpack’s No. 3 team of sophomore Rachael James-Baker and freshman Liza Fieldsend simply overpowered their opponents, posting an easy 8-1 win.
N.C. State’s No. 2 team, consisting of senior Joelle Kissell and junior Sophie Nelson, started off slowly in the deciding doubles match. But the pair managed to find their groove, winning five of the last six points to overcome their opponents with an 8-5 win. The victory clinched the doubles point for State.
After a strong doubles performance, the Pack continued its dominant play in singles, led by No. 1 Kissell to overpower the Eagles. Kissell scorched her opponent in straight sets, winning 6-2, 6-1.
“I had pretty good court positioning, today,” Kissell said. “She was hitting a lot of balls low and short, and so by staying up in the court, I was able to take time away from her and she was not able to dictate the points like she wanted.”
The Pack rolled on, as No. 2 James-Baker was second to come off the court with a singles win. She overpowered her opponent, winning by identical 6-2 scores in both sets.
No. 3 junior Nicole Martinez secured the Wolfpack’s win, beating her opponent by scores of 6-4, 6-3.
Freshman Natalia Jancowitz, playing at No. 5, was next to finish, winning a tight first set, 7-5, before a relatively comfortable 6-2 ride through the second.
No. 6 junior Elisha Hande swept Winthrop freshman Beth Williamson in straight sets. Hande made Williamson frantically sprint from side to side, only to be beaten by well-placed balls to the corners. Hande registered a final score of 6-0, 6-4.
Winthrop earned its first point of the day the match’s final contest between No. 4 Fieldsend and Eagles sophomore Tijana Uzelac. Fieldsend won the first set 6-2, but Tijana bounced back resiliently in the second set to win 6-4. Tijana carried over her momentum from the second set into the third, taking the deciding set by a score of 6-2.
Head coach Hans Olsen said he was satisfied with his team’s victory, but still stressed certain aspects that the team must work on.
“[We need to] work hard, especially when things aren’t going our way,” Olsen said. “Instead of turning away from the situation, we need to turn right back towards it, dig in and work hard.”
Thursday’s victory over the Winthrop Eagles marks the Pack’s 11th consecutive win at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, dating back to the 2013 season. N.C. State’s next match is against No. 9 Miami Sunday at 11 a.m.
