The No. 3 NC State women’s tennis team dominated Louisville 7-0 in the squad’s second-to-last match of its regular season on Friday, April 15.
This victory marked the Pack’s sixth flawless win on the season as NC State achieved its 21st win overall. After dominating in both doubles and several singles matches, the Pack is now 9-3 in conference play as it approaches the end of its regular season.
As per usual, the doubles point was quickly and efficiently taken by the Pack. The three Wolfpack doubles pairs wasted no time in the round and took the two matches needed to win while only losing one game. Freshman Priska Nugroho and sophomore Sophie Abrams won 6-0 followed by the No. 3 pair of graduate student Jaeda Daniel and senior Nell Miller’s 6-1 win.
“I think we have the best doubles corps in the nation,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “We’ve just got to keep working at it and not become complacent in that regard.”
The Pack also performed well in singles, quickly winning the three matches the team needed to clinch in straight sets. But to finish the match off 7-0, the Wolfpack battled through and won the three other singles matches that finished in third-set super breakers.
First to strike was Miller on court five who won 6-1, 6-1. The senior was quickly followed by sophomore Amelia Rajecki who took court four 6-2, 6-1. Finishing off the first half of the Pack’s singles wins was No. 11 Daniel, who, like Miller and Rajecki, won her match with minimal error. Daniel finished her match 6-1, 6-1 and clinched the day for the Wolfpack at 4-0.
While the first three singles courts won in dominant fashion, the last three were forced to battle through third-set superbreakers to decide their matches.
The first of these matches to conclude came on court three as No. 60 Nugroho won in three sets, capping her match with an intense super breaker. As the freshman won 6-1, 5-7, 1-0 (10-6), this match marked her sixth straight singles victory. In addition, Nugroho has also won four ACC freshman of the week honors, including two in a row the last two weeks. While still adjusting to college tennis, Nugroho has been one of the strongest players for the Pack and surely will be in years to come.
“This past three months, I learned a lot,” said Nugroho. “I mean, in the beginning, it was not that easy because there’s a lot of adjustments that I had to make. But I think as the season went along, I felt more comfortable with the environment, with the team. And it’s just the whole college in general that I’ve become more familiar with. And yeah, I’ve been very grateful for my run.”
After Nugroho’s win, the last pair of Pack victories came one after the other, both featuring more intense superbreaker competition. Abrams took her match 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-7), putting the Pack up 6-0. Finally, to finish off the flawless ACC win, No. 40 sophomore Abigail Rencheli on court two. Despite losing her first set, Rencheli battled back and won a tense 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) match.
The win against the Cardinals moves the Pack to 9-3 in ACC play and the Pack will get one more shot at adding another conference win against Notre Dame in its last match of the season.
“Oh, yeah, we have one more conference match, and I think we just have to go point-by-point and everyone has to really stay focused from the beginning,” Nugroho said. “We’re going to play Notre Dame and yeah, it’s not going to be easy.”
The Pack will battle the Fighting Irish on Saturday, April 16 as the NC State women’s tennis team is set to celebrate senior day. Play will start at 12 p.m.
