The No. 8 NC State women’s tennis team battled Penn State on Saturday, Jan. 29 in the opening round of the ITA Kickoff weekend. Despite a number of tightly fought matches, the Wolfpack defeated the Nittany Lions 4-0.
The Wolfpack squad was able to power through as it won the doubles point and three singles matches to secure the 4-0 clinch win needed to advance.
“Penn State really made us work hard for that one,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “Even at the end of it, it felt like it took us a good 30 minutes to really close that out. And they really made us work for it today.”
The duos of senior Nell Miller and graduate student Jaeda Daniel, and sophomores Amelia Rajecki and Abigail Rencheli easily secured the doubles point for the Pack, with each winning 6-2. However, the singles matches were much tougher victories for the Pack.
No. 8-ranked Daniel was first to strike in singles, winning 6-4, 6-0. Like the rest of the team, she had to battle her way through challenging points, most of which came in the first set for Daniel. In the second set, however, Daniel dialed in and easily won six straight games through her dominating serve and powerful counter attacking play.
“Honestly, I think that every day we put in the work,” Daniel said. “So in the tight moments, you just hope that it comes together. There’s not much you can do but kind of try to trust it and today it worked.”
This trend of closely contested matches was continued by the next two singles wins for the Pack. Miller struggled in her first set, but similarly to Daniel, dominated the second set to win 7-5, 6-0. Rencheli achieved a hard-earned third singles win the Pack needed to achieve victory over the Nittany Lions. Rencheli had a tight match all the way through, including a heated tiebreaker to end the second set and clinch the win for the Pack as she won 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).
Freshman Priska Nugroho’s match also came down to a tiebreaker to decide the second set. Nugroho was able to impressively battle back after being down in the first set 1-4 and took the second set to a tense tiebreak. The match was left unfinished with a final scoreline of 6-4, 6-6, (4-3) due to the four match wins the Wolfpack needed to advance.
Sophomore Sophie Abrams and Rajecki also saw their matches go unfinished in the first set of each match due to the Wolfpack’s clinch victory. With this clinch, the team will have to continue its strong performance in the championship match of the ITA Kickoff weekend.
“It’s gonna be tough,” Daniel said. “We’re gonna have to work but I think as a group, we know hard work and we put in the time we put in the effort together. So I think we’re just looking forward to competing.”
The Wolfpack awaits the results of Northwestern vs. Wake Forest in the second match of Saturday’s matches at the ITA Kickoff Weekend to decide their opponent for Sunday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.
