The NC State women’s tennis team competed in the ITA Carolina Regionals this weekend in Chapel Hill.
The Pack was not able to secure the win, doubles being knocked out in the quarterfinals and all three singles players being defeated in the Round of 32.
Despite not winning the tournament, head coach Simon Earnshaw is not concerned.
“Certainly the expectation to perform is there,” Earnshaw said. “The main goal of this fall season is to get as many matches in as possible.”
State’s women’s team is only 10 players deep, split evenly five and five between underclassmen and upperclassmen, so experience is of the utmost importance.
Despite only coming away with a moral victory, Earnshaw commends his doubles team on their successes this weekend.
“I would have liked to see us get a couple more wins, but Joanna and Natalia showed a strong doubles performance,” Earnshaw said.
The players in question, sophomore Natalia Janowicz and junior Joanna Nalborska, defeated Duke’s Christina Makarova and Annie Mulholland in the first round by a score of 8-5. Their following Round of 32 pinned them against NC A&T’s Tyla Goodridge and Saundra Smith, but the Pack’s duo dispatched them by a score of 8-3.
Following these two wins, including impressively defeating Duke, the Pack duo was not done. Janowicz and Nalborska faced UNC’s Marika Akkerman and Cassandra Vazquez, defeating the Heels’ partnership by a margin of 8-4.
“We wanted to come out with some big wins,” Janowicz said. “My partner [Nalborska] and I were very motivated to prove ourselves, and defeating Duke and Carolina was a good way to do it.”
Janowicz, a Palm Bay, Florida native, bonds well with the Warsaw, Poland native, Nalborska.
“It’s really that opposites attract,” Janowicz said. ”She is a very laid-back person and I am very energetic, so it’s great to go out there and see us mesh well and play together.”
They were defeated in their quarterfinal match by University of South Carolina’s Meghan Blevins and Brigit Folland, 8-4 despite their two big wins.
In the singles portion of the tournament, State had five players enter the Round of 64. Three of the Pack women, Nalborska, sophomore Liza Fieldsend and senior Elisha Hande, all made it to the Round of 32 before being defeated. The trio fell to USC’s Elixane Lechemia, Duke’s Alyssa Smith and Furman’s Ansley Speaks, respectively.
This weekend was certainly not an easy one for any of the Pack players, having been unable to pick up any seeding to give a bye from the first round.
Earnshaw says it was still a weekend of success, regardless of wins.
“Our ultimate goal for this fall is to get as many wins as possible, get girls experience and get into the mindset in order to compete in every point of every match,” Earnshaw said.
With the tournament drawing to a close, the team now looks forward to its next event that kicks off Oct. 31 in Los Angeles: the Jack Kramer Club Invitational.