The No. 3 NC State women’s tennis team is back in the win column as the Pack added its 20th win of the season after taking down Virginia Tech 6-1 on the road.
Now 20-3 on the season, the Pack successfully rebounded in Blacksburg after dropping two straight matches to rivals then-No. 14 Duke and No. 1 UNC. The usual dominant doubles round as well as a strong series of singles matches paved the way for the Pack’s eighth ACC win of the season.
The match started with NC State quickly taking the doubles round without much contention from the Hokies. The No. 89 duo of sophomore Sophie Abrams and freshman Priska Nugroho effortlessly took court three 6-0, the No. 26-ranked pairing of sophomores Amelia Rajecki and Abigail Rencheli finished off the doubles round with an equally impressive 6-1 win.
Up 1-0, the Pack carried its momentum from the previous round to its singles matches where the top of NC State’s order earned equally effortless wins in its solo bouts.
No. 33 Rencheli put the Pack up 2-0 with her 6-2, 6-0 where she flaunted a flawless second set. No. 61 Nugroho matched Rencheli with her own 6-2, 6-0 win where she also won six straight games in her second set. With the Wolfpack up 3-0, No. 12 graduate Jaeda Daniel clinched it for NC State with her impressive 6-2, 6-2 win on court one.
After clinching, the rest of the Pack’s lineup on courts four through six played out the rest of its matches, all of which went to three sets as the squad took two more singles wins.
Rajecki won in three sets as the sophomore was able to take her extremely tight super breaker to decide the match with a final score of 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (14-12). Up 5-0, Virginia Tech was able to take its only win of the day on court six as Abrams lost to her Hokie opponent 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. To finish off the day, the Pack added one more to its total as senior Nell Miller won on court five in another dramatic, super breaker finish with a final score of 7-6 (7-5), 3-6 1-0 (10-4).
The members of the top half of the Wolfpack’s lineup are now all ranked and they showed it today. Flaunting such a strong, nationally recognized roster of players, NC State looks to finish out the season strong as the squad battles through its remaining ACC opponents.
The last road match of the season for the Pack is scheduled for Sunday, April 10 as NC State takes on the No. 14 Virginia Cavaliers. The match is set to start at 1 p.m.
