No. 19 NC State women’s tennis started its 2025 season on a high, defeating then-No. 10 Pepperdine in a 5-2 rout. However, the Wolfpack has now dropped three straight matches, the most recent of which came in a close, 4-3 loss to No. 10 Texas on the road.
NC State showed its potential against the Waves in its 5-2 victory, but played staunch against staunch competition in its three-match slide, including No. 15 Ohio State and the Longhorns.
While competing in Austin, Texas, NC State (2-3) played the Longhorns (3-1) to the brink in a back-and-forth battle. The Wolfpack even took the early doubles point from Texas but only took two out of six singles matches in the latter round.
Tied at 3-3 late in the match, the contest came down to sophomore Jasmine Conway on court six, who fell in a tight match with razor-thin margins. While the London native bounced back in her second set after losing her first with a tiebreak win to stave off defeat, her opponent, Vivian Ovrootsky won her own tiebreaker in the third and final set to decide the match.
Early on the Pack managed to snatch the doubles point from Texas with wins on courts one and three. The No. 60 pair of Conway and sophomore Kristina Paskauskas took down their opponents 6-3 before Texas struck back with a 6-3 win of its own on court two over junior Anna Zyryanova and freshman Mia Slama.
To take the doubles round, NC State’s No. 5 pair of sophomores Gabriella Broadfoot and Maddy Zampardo defeated Texas’ Sabina Zeynalova and Ashton Bowers via tiebreak in a very close 7-6 (7-1) win on court one.
In singles, Texas quickly struck back with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Zyryanova on court one to even the score at 1-1. The Longhorns added another to the count with a win over Slama on court five in a 6-4, 6-2 result to get out to a 2-1 lead.
The two sides continued to go back and forth as NC State won its first singles match courtesy of Zampardo, who defeated Eszter Meri on court two in a three-set match. After Zampardo’s 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory, her doubles partner, Broadfoot, won her match on court four. Like Zampardo, Broadfoot won in three tough sets to put her team into clinch position with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win.
Once again, Texas responded with a three-set win on court three over Paskauskas. Carmen Herea’s 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-2 win over Paskauskas knotted the match at 3-3. From there, Ovrootsky beat Conway at the end of their thrilling match to take the day from NC State.
The Wolfpack will continue its stay in Texas with its next contest coming against SMU on Sunday. First serve against the Mustangs is set for 2 p.m. in Dallas.
