No. 10 NC State women’s tennis finished its second doubleheader of the weekend with back-to-back victories over Louisville and ETSU in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack (12-3) took down the Cardinals (4-7) 5-2 in the first leg of its Sunday doubleheader and swept the ETSU Buccaneers (5-5) 7-0 just a few hours later. 

Versus Louisville, 5-2

NC State defeated the Cardinals 5-2, clinching its second ACC win of the season at 4-0. While the Pack secured the win, it had a lackluster finish to its singles round against Louisville. 

Early on, the Wolfpack took a 1-0 lead after wins on all three doubles courts. First, the No. 13 pair of senior Amelia Rajecki and freshman Maddy Zampardo took court one via a 6-1 decision. The No. 9 pair of senior Sophie Abrams and sophomore Anna Zyryanova took court two 6-4 and senior Abigail Rencheli and freshman Gabriella Broadfoot won 6-3 on court three. 

With a lead in hand, NC State worked its way to a clinch at 4-0 with three straight singles wins, even with three of the six courts needing three sets. 

Senior Gina Dittmann won 6-0, 6-2 to double the red-and-white’s lead while No. 3 Rajecki took court one in a snappy 6-1, 6-2 decision. No. 27 Zyryanova won a technical three-set match after her opponent retired at the end of the second set, clinching the victory for the Pack. 

From there, the Wolfpack was locked in multiple three-setters. Rencheli was the only one to pull out a victory, winning a grueling 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 1-0 (10-5) match via a third-set superbreaker. 

After Rencheli eked out a win, freshman Kristina Paskauskas fell in her third-set superbreaker 10-5 while Abrams lost her superbreaker 10-2, putting the final score at 5-2. 

While the Wolfpack upped its level come its second match, NC State didn’t display a consistent level of energy throughout the day — especially in three-set matches. 

“You can see that the two matches were quite contrasting as far as our application rate, our intensity, our overall energy,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “And in reality that makes no sense that you’ve got to go out there for three hours and then an hour four or five, that all of a sudden the work rate goes up.”

Versus ETSU, 7-0 

The Pack’s work rate increased only halfway into the Pack’s second doubles round of the day. After finding itself down on two courts and at risk of losing the point, NC State finally got a grip and turned up the heat. 

While Broadfoot and Rencheli raced to a 6-0 win, the Pack’s other pairs had to both embark on comeback attempts to defeat the Buccaneers. Zyryanova and Abrams did the job, defeating their opponents 6-4 to claim another 1-0 lead. 

“Then all of a sudden our work rate went way up, and that’s a good response,” Earnshaw said. “That should start from the beginning of the match.”

Singles against the Bucs went much smoother than the Cardinals for NC State. Zampardo got the Wolfpack started with a 6-2, 6-1 victory on court four. Next, Zyryanova put the Wolfpack in clinch position with a succinct 6-2, 6-0 win on court two. 

Dittmann earned her second two-set singles win of the day with a 6-0, 6-3 win. Rajecki downed her opponent 6-3, 6-2 on court one, while Broadfoot won in the only three-setter of the second match, winning 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) on court six. 

To finish off the sweep, Rencheli won 7-6, 6-4 in a hard-earned match. By the end of Rencheli’s match, the Wolfpack completed four matches in one weekend. 

“I think the more you can play how you practice and just improve on everything that the coaches want you to do — it’s just another opportunity to just prove yourself and prove that you can do what you’ve been practicing,” Broadfoot said. 

NC State will continue ACC play with a home showdown against Wake Forest on Friday, March 8 at noon.