Senior Amelia Rajecki paved the way for No. 15 NC State women’s tennis’ 4-3 win over No. 19 Miami with the 100th singles win of her collegiate career after facing the Hurricanes in Raleigh.
With a three-set win over another one of the ACC’s best in Miami’s No. 14 Alexa Noel, Rajecki became just the fourth player in program history to reach the mark of 100 singles wins. Joining the likes of program greats like Adriana Reami, Anna Rodgers and Alana Smith, Rajecki made another addition to one of the most impressive resumes in NC State history with this milestone.
“I think it kind of shows all the effort that I’ve put in,” Rajecki said. “I mean, sometimes you don’t always get the reward straight away. I think I’ve definitely waited for it, but it feels really nice.”
To earn those 100 wins, Rajecki has often faced opposing teams’ best competition. She also missed most of her freshman season in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making her 100 wins in three years that much more impressive.
“For her to have done that, I think, is a testament to the work that she’s done,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “And the fact that she’s doing it at the top of the lineup now, it’s even more difficult. I actually knew she was on 99, but I didn’t think about it today. So when they announced it, that’s pretty cool.”
The majority of Earnshaw’s attention was on his team, who overcame a slow start by winning four out of the first five singles matches to clinch the overall match at 4-2.
Early on, the Canes started out hot with a win over the Wolfpack in the doubles round. They defeated the No. 11 pair of sophomore Anna Zyryanova and senior Sophie Abrams and the No. 15 pair of Rajecki and freshman Maddy Zampardo both by a score of 6-3.
The singles round came with its fair share of tense, back-and-forth play, par for the course considering the last three matchups between the two teams have also resulted in 4-3 decisions.
“I think it’s a really good win,” Earnshaw said. “I was telling the team before the match that the last three or four or five times we’ve played Miami it’s been 4-3, right? So probably 4-3 is going to be an outcome, and 4-3 was the outcome. So tough, tough team. Tough to beat, tough to break down.”
With slow conditions egged on by the cold and wind, the singles round took nearly three hours to resolve. Zyryanova earned the fastest win of the day to even up the score at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-2 win on court three.
From there, senior Gina Dittmann won 6-2, 6-3 on court four to put the Wolfpack in the lead. Meanwhile, senior Abigail Rencheli and Rajecki had both dropped their first sets against their ranked opponents. While Rencheli couldn’t come back in her second set — eventually falling 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) to Miami’s No. 71 Isabella Pfennig — Rajecki was going blow for blow with Noel on court one.
Despite dropping her first set, Rajecki rebounded in her second and blanked Noel in the third for her 100th win in the red and white. Her 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 win put the Wolfpack into a clinch position at 3-2.
Needing just one more win, Zampardo beat out Miami’s No. 104 Audrey Boch-Collins 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the bout. After coming back from a large deficit in her first set, Zampardo and Boch-Collins battled in a long, back-and-forth second set before the freshman trumped her opponent.
Even though NC State already clinched, the Hurricanes got the final win of the day in a three-set win over freshman Gabriella Broadfoot on court six. Broadfoot ultimately lost in a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 decision to put the final scoreline at 4-3.
While the Pack will finish its regular season on the road against Georgia Tech and Clemson, it’ll wrap up its regular season home slate against Florida State.
NC State’s clash with the Seminoles will be preceded by the Pack’s senior day celebration honoring Rajecki, Rencheli, Dittmann and Abrams. The red-and-white is set to play Florida State on Sunday, April 7, at noon.
