The No. 8 NC State women’s tennis team continued its strong start to the spring season on Sunday, Jan. 23, downing the No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes 4-3 and defeated the East Tennessee State Buccaneers 6-1 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The afternoon began with a top-10 showdown against the Buckeyes (0-2), but the Wolfpack (3-0) emerged victorious thanks to some clutch performances in singles play. The two squads were neck-and-neck throughout the match, but a gutsy 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 win by sophomore Amelia Rajecki clinched the front end of the doubleheader for NC State.
“Clinching is always nice, especially with your team, big win,” Rajecki said. “It was two sets, which is really nice, because I’ve had a lot of three-set matches recently. So I was really happy.”
Rajecki’s clincher was emblematic of a tightly contested match featuring some unexpected results. Senior Nell Miller handily defeated No. 72 Lucia Marzal 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 4 matchup, while sophomore Sophie Abrams won similarly, 6-1, 6-1, over OSU’s Kolie Allen in the No. 5 matchup.
These heroics were necessitated by a lack of production from the top half of NC State’s lineup. Each of the Wolfpack’s top three singles players fell short in their matches, headlined by a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-0) loss for No. 8 graduate student Jaeda Daniel against No. 6 Irina Cantos Siemers. No. 25 sophomore Abigail Rencheli ended up losing a back-and-forth match 7-6, 1-6, 6-0 to Isabelle Boulais and freshman Priska Nugroho came up short 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to No. 123 Sydni Ratliff.
On the other hand, the Pack took care of business against Ohio State in doubles. Daniel and Miller defeated Ratliff and Kathleen Jones 6-3, and senior Sara Nayar and Nugroho took down Siemers and Madeline Atway 6-2 to seal the doubles point.
The Buccaneers (0-4) made the Wolfpack work much harder for that doubles point. Nayar and Nugroho gave NC State an early 1-0 lead in doubles, downing No. 44 Yunuen Elizarraras and Fernanda Carvajal 6-1, but the combo of Rencheli and Rajecki dropped a tough match to Laylo Bakhodirova and Alejandra Morales 6-4. ETSU could not quite complete the doubles upset, however, as Daniel and Miller defeated Mayya Gorbunova and Daniela Rivera 6-4.
“Doubleheaders are always tough, especially when it’s such a tough first match,” Rajecki said. “We left it all out on the court and to come back in a very short amount of time and play is tough. ETSU had an opportunity here to play a top team, and they’re going to give it their all. Credit to them because they have left it out in the court.”
Miller continued her solid weekend in singles play against ETSU, defeating Carvajal 6-1, 6-2 to double the Pack’s lead to 2-0. Abrams then disposed of Gorbunova 6-3, 6-0 to extend that lead to 3-0. Rencheli dropped a heartbreaker to Bakhodirova 4-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-8), but Rajecki swept Rivera 6-2, 6-1 before Nayar outlasted Elizarraras 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4).
“We’re already in pretty darn good shape, for a few matches in which is fantastic,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “That means we can just get after it. Going into the Kick-off Weekend, we’re probably in about as good a position as we could be in this early.”
The Wolfpack will continue its current homestand by hosting Iowa State, Northwestern and Wake Forest in the ITA Kick-off Weekend on Jan. 29-30. The match against Iowa State will start at 11 a.m on Jan. 29.
