Coming off two close, 4-3 losses against then-No. 7 Duke and then-No. 4 UNC-Chapel Hill, No. 11 NC State women’s tennis returned to Raleigh and captured a rebound win against Clemson. The Wolfpack won its eleventh straight match against the Tigers in its 4-0 sweep on Friday afternoon.
While close in some areas, the Wolfpack had a relatively calm afternoon against its ACC opponent, including junior Anna Zyryanova, who clinched the red-and-white’s sweep.
“As far as I’ve been here for three years, we’ve been beating Clemson pretty easily, but that doesn’t mean that the win itself is easy,” Zyryanova said. “So I think everyone did a great job today. I think the team effort was really good today.”
Clemson gave NC State the most trouble in doubles by upsetting the nation’s No. 2 pair in sophomores Gabriella Broadfoot and Maddy Zampardo on Court 1 in a rare loss. The Wolfpack already clinched the doubles point, however, thanks to wins on Courts 2 and 3 from the pair of sophomore Jasmine Conway and Zyryanova, who won 6-3, and the pair of sophomore Kristina Paskauskas and freshman Michaela Laki, who won 6-2.
While a surprising loss occurred on Court 1, head coach Simon Earnshaw was happy to see the rest of his doubles pairs support his star duo.
“It’s the first time we’ve won a doubles point where we won at 2 and 3 doubles the whole year,” Earnshaw said. “So I think we’re making a little bit of progress there, where we’re actually starting to have a doubles lineup.”
Singles saw No. 121 freshman Mia Slama and Broadfoot capture straight set wins on Courts 6 and 4, respectively. Slama beat her Tiger opponent 6-2, 6-2, while Broadfoot won 6-1, 6-3 on her court, moving the Wolfpack into clinch position.
As the Wolfpack’s only upperclassman, Zyryanova said she is guiding young players such as Slama and Broadfoot off the court in everyday life as well as priding herself as a role model.
“I’m just trying to lead by example by putting the work in every day, putting the work in a classroom,” Zyryanova said. “I’m kind of navigating them through college life and saying, ‘You shouldn’t do this or you should do this. You should go speak to these people or these people.’ So, yeah, I think they’re in a really good environment. I’m hoping I’m a good upperclassman for them.”
Zyryanova, who had surgery in the Pack’s fall season, had a slow start to her 2025 campaign. However, after two wins against her Duke and UNC opponents last weekend and a 6-2, 6-3 win this weekend, Zyryanova is hitting her stride just in time to lead NC State’s postseason run in a few weeks.
“I had surgery in September, and I was not able to play the whole fall, so I’m just grateful every time I’m stepping on the court,” Zyryanova said. “I’m surely more calm right now because, again, I’m just grateful for every opportunity I get to play.”
While the Pack dropped two first sets on other courts, Zyryanova’s clinch secured her team’s sweep over the Tigers. With just two weeks and five matches until the postseason begins, Earnshaw said that now is the time to maximize the impact on his team’s regular season even though most of their work is completed.
“Our only chance to impact our season is now,” Earnshaw said. “Even though the work’s been done, we still have an opportunity to capitalize on that work. And a month or so from now, all we can do is reflect on it. So we have to be all in.”
With an all-in mindset to close out the regular season and the ACC Tournament shortly over the horizon, Earnshaw was confident in his team’s ability to overperform and compete with the rest of the best teams in the ACC and the rest of the country despite its youth. With a skyrocketing trajectory, NC State is a dark-horse candidate for an ACC title.
“We have the potential to overperform the most this year because the potential is there, just hasn’t had time to be realized yet,” Earnshaw said. “We know it’s going to happen. And I think it’s like the young player in junior tennis who’s improving. The last thing you want as an established player is to face that person who’s got trajectory, because they can be worse than you, but because they’ve got that upward momentum, they’re gonna be an absolute bear.”
Earnshaw emphasized the need for more consistency and the ability to pull it all together, but he is confident his team can be “dangerous” come the postseason.
NC State will face a postseason-worthy team on Sunday in No. 25 Georgia Tech. Play against the Yellow Jackets is set to begin at noon at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh.
