Days before playing No. 6 Michigan, No. 19 NC State women’s tennis head coach Simon Earnshaw said his team would have to play its best match yet to take down the Wolverines.
And on Friday night against the maize-and-blue, the Wolfpack played its best match yet.
Against a formidable Wolverines (6-2) team at home, the Pack (5-3) put on an upset-worthy performance in a back-and-forth slugfest in Raleigh where NC State took the early doubles point. The two titans of college tennis then went blow-for-blow in singles before freshman Mia Slama clinched the win with a come-from-behind victory on Court 6.
Despite a slow start in her first set, Slama rebounded with a 6-2 second set victory that was helped along by some advice from Earnshaw between sets.
“I needed to gain composure because I was a little bit upset,” Slama said. “So I needed to attack the middle more because she had trouble changing her grip and going from forehand to backhand, and she also has a really weird swing on her forehand. So yeah, I just needed to attack that and stay disciplined.”
Slama focused in and locked down on her opponent. As she entered her third set, NC State needed just one singles win to clinch the match, and Slama delivered. Despite some earlier match points, Slama delivered the win for her team at 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Court 6 was subsequently rushed by the rest of her onlooking and overjoyed team celebrating its monumental victory and Slama’s first clutch match win.
“I was overjoyed, honestly,” Slama said. “I was also just really relieved that it was finally done because I had match points at 5-1 and I didn’t win those, and I was just really happy to have done it. And then when everyone came rushing, I was just really happy to be a part of the win.”
Like six other players on NC State’s roster, Slama is an underclassman but was ready for the team’s match against one of the best teams in the nation. Slama, along with her younger teammates such as sophomores Maddy Zampardo and Gabriella Broadfoot helped the Pack inch closer to victory during the match.
Zampardo doubled down on her team’s 1-0 lead from doubles with a straight-sets win in singles. Zampardo upset No. 36 Lily Jones while Broadfoot upset No. 66 Reese Miller in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Finally, Slama came through on Court 6 to finish off the trifecta of underclassmen wins for the match clinch.
“Mia, that’s the reason she’s here,” Earnshaw said. “I mean she’s darn good. All of our freshmen have a very high pedigree, way higher than a lot of players we’ve had. … It looked like our type of tennis. We were really playing aggressive, we were forcing, we were getting forward. It’s good stuff.”
Early in the match, NC State captured its most important doubles point of the season. As per usual, the No. 2 pair of Zampardo and Broadfoot paved the way for the round win with a 6-3 victory on Court 1 over the Wolverines’ No. 27 pair of Piper Charney and Jessica Bernales.
The Zampardo and Broadfoot duo have fallen in line with a long history of exceptional NC State doubles pairs. Earnshaw’s carefully engineered a program that produces dangerous duos each and every year. While his system uses the talented players on his roster, Earnshaw said the Pack’s doubles formula and play style are near-unbeatable, akin to other unstoppable sports icons and their signature moves.
Earnshaw said it can be difficult to get younger players to understand the concept, especially when opponents might know what’s coming.
“In their mind, they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t understand — if it’s that predictable, how does the other team not know?’” Earnshaw said. “But, can you stop a Steph Curry jump shot? Can you stop Mo Salah from scoring with his left foot? No. It just seems weirdly easy. You know it’s coming, but good luck. If they execute, they’re gonna beat you.”
A la a Michael Jordan fadeaway or a Tom Brady two-minute drill, Zampardo and Broadfoot executed another smooth, ranked doubles win before sophomore Kristina Paskauskas and freshman Michaela Laki finished off the doubles win with a 6-4 win on Court 3 to give their team a 1-0 edge heading into singles.
The Wolverines made sure to get their licks in during singles, however. While No. 52 Laki has been the brightest spot for the Pack this season with two wins over two top-10 opponents, the freshman couldn’t pull off the same feat against the Wolverines. Michigan’s No. 4 Julia Fliegner downed No. 52 Laki in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1 on Court 1. The ranked battle’s result evened the match’s score at 1-1 in the early hours of singles.
Michigan’s No. 30 Charney defeated junior Anna Zyryanova in an intense three-set battle on Court 2. Despite Zyryanova and Laki’s losses, Zampardo, Broadfoot and Slama came through to claim victory.
By the time the Pack clinched, the only NC State player left standing was Paskauskas on Court 5. The London native’s 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win made the final score 5-2 and moved NC State to 5-3 on the season.
“If we can accelerate the process and they can learn and they can gain from these experiences — whether they’re wins or losses — then that’s going to really put us in a good spot, because we’re young, but we just got older today, and I think that’s a big positive,” Earnshaw said.
NC State will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 28 at Louisville as it starts ACC play. Slama was confident and excited about the Pack’s potential going forward. She was also eager to take the weekend off and soak up the biggest win of the season yet.
“Take the weekend off, relax and then get back to training, honestly,” Slama said. “Because this is definitely not the end and I know our team can do great things, so I’m really excited to see where we go from here.”
