No. 10 NC State women’s tennis dropped its second straight ranked match in a 5-2 loss at No. 6 Virginia.
After relinquishing a 3-1 lead against Duke and ultimately suffering a 4-3 loss to the Blue Devils on Sunday, the Cavaliers (16-2, 8-0 ACC) handed the Wolfpack (15-6, 5-3 ACC) another ACC loss as it traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia.
While the Wolfpack won the early doubles point, it only mustered one out of five singles wins in the latter round.
After struggling in singles against Virginia, the only Wolfpack singles win came from freshman Maddy Zampardo in a three-set match on court five. However, with that singles win coming at the end of the round, the Cavaliers won five straight singles matches to dominate the Wolfpack.
Early on, the red-and-white took it to the Cavaliers in Charlottesville by winning the doubles point. Despite the No. 13 pair of Zampardo and senior Amelia Rajecki losing to the No. 14 pair of Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky, NC State evened the odds in the round with a 6-3 win from freshman Gabriella Broadfoot and senior Gina Dittmann on court three.
To win the round, the No. 10 pair of senior Sophie Abrams and sophomore Anna Zyryanova slugged out a tense 7-6 (7-4) win over Virginia’s No. 27 pair of Hibah Shaikh and Natasha Subhash. With Abrams and Zyryanova showing up in the clutch and gutting out a win, the Wolfpack entered the singles round with a 1-0 advantage.
However, that lead didn’t last long. The Cavaliers won five straight matches over the Wolfpack, three of which were in two sets.
The first of Virginia’s wins came on court six when Collard captured a 6-3, 6-3 win over Broadfoot. From there, No. 110 Abrams lost to the Cavs’ No. 60 Sara Ziodato in two similar sets. With Ziodato’s 6-4, 6-2 decision over Abrams, the hosts were out to a 2-1 lead and refused to look back.
No. 43 Zyryanova lost in straight sets despite a close second set. Her 6-2, 7-5 loss put the Cavaliers into clinch position at 3-1.
To clinch its third win in four matches against NC State, No. 25 Shaikh downed No. 5 Rajecki in three sets, the last of which included a tense, match-deciding tiebreaker. Rajecki ultimately fell in a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, (8-6) decision.
Virginia’s final point of the day came from Subhash’s three-set win over Dittmann. While Dittmann took the first set via tiebreak, Subhash won the final two sets, both by scores of 6-3. Soon after, Zampardo earned a ranked win over No. 76 Chervinsky in three sets, but by then, the damage had been done — her 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) win came after Virginia’s clinch.
NC State will remain in Virginia for a match against Virginia Tech on Saturday, March 30. First serve in Blacksburg, Virginia, is set for 1 p.m.
