The No. 2 NC State women’s tennis team beat FSU 6-1 for its first ACC win of the year as the team continues its historic run throughout the 2022 season.
After retaining the No. 2 ranking for back to back weeks, a program high for NC State, the Wolfpack put on a dominant performance against FSU, snapping a two-match losing streak against the Seminoles.
“Traditionally we’ve struggled against Florida State,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “That’s one school that we’ve had the wrong end of some close matches [with] in the last few years. I mean, definitely, in that regard, it was good to get this one under our belt.”
The match was won courtesy of strong singles performances as well as two forfeited matches due to a lack of available players on the Seminoles roster, one being the doubles match on court three, in which the Pack won by default. The regular doubles pairing of sophomores Amelia Rajecki and Abigail Rencheli took the second doubles match 6-4 to put the Pack up 1-0 early on.
After the singles match on court six was won by default, the Pack only needed two singles wins to clinch, the first of which came from freshman Priska Nugroho. After winning her first set 6-1, her opponent retired early on in the second set due to an apparent injury. Sophomore Sophie Abrams was then able to clinch the match for the Pack with her 6-3, 6-1 win on court three.
One of the most impressive singles performances came from Rencheli, who after blanking her opponent in the first set 6-0, was met with much more contention in her second set. After having to battle for much longer in the second set, Rencheli was able to dial in and win clutch points in the last few games of the set, eventually pulling through 6-0, 7-5.
“I just thought to myself, just get through the points,” Rencheli said. “Just keep playing the way I have been playing, it’s been working. Although it was a little more competitive, I think I just kept my head on my shoulders and didn’t really let it bother me too much, and managed to get through.”
Senior Nell Miller was last to finish, as she took her match 6-4, 6-3, ending the day for the Pack with a final score of 6-1. Graduate student Jaeda Daniel was the lone member of the Pack to fall, after winning her first set but losing in the second set and third set tiebreak.
With the squad’s first ACC win of the season, the No. 2-ranked Wolfpack look towards the next few weeks, ready to play more and more ACC and ranked teams to continue the team’s historic form.
I think we’re finally getting recognized for what we’ve been doing,” said Rencheli. “They kept putting us low in the rankings, lower than we should have been. And I think everything we’ve been doing now has kind of really propelled us to where we should be, and I think we’re ready for everyone else that’s gonna come ahead of us.”
Next up for the Pack is a doubleheader at home against No. 14 Miami which starts at 12 p.m. on Sunday, March 6, shortly followed by a match against Elon that starts at 5 p.m.
