No. 7 NC State women’s tennis eased its way to a quick, 4-0 win over Alabama to start its run in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship in Raleigh.
NC State (4-0) rolled over the Crimson Tide (2-1) in both singles and doubles in its first match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. With the win, the hosting Wolfpack will continue in the single-elimination tournament with another match in Raleigh on Sunday, Jan. 28.
After a clean doubles round, the red-and-white dominated singles with three clean straight-sets victories — a win that head coach Simon Earnshaw would like to replicate in future matches.
“[The win is] ideal,” Earnshaw said. “Ideal. I mean, I think we would have had a hard time scripting that one better. So you know, obviously we’ll take something from that. But tomorrow’s a new day and obviously in an ideal world we can just run it again.”
To start the ITA’s, NC State captured two quick doubles wins on courts one and two. No. 9 senior Sophie Abrams and sophomore Anna Zyryanova took court one 6-3 while the No. 7 pair of senior Amelia Rajecki and freshman Maddy Zampardo took court two by the same score.
With a fast 1-0 lead, the red-and-white kept the pedal to the metal in singles. Nearly every player jumped out to large leads in their first sets, causing them to win their matches with minimal losses. Seamless victories like No. 19 Abrams’ 6-0, 6-1 win and No. 3 Rajecki’s 6-0, 6-2 win are the results of countless hours of practice, training and experience.
“I think a lot of the sort of intangibles and things you don’t necessarily see in the scorebook were very clear today,” Earnshaw said. “If you keep doing those types of things for long enough, generally that does show up in the score line.”
Abrams struck first with her win on court four. Meanwhile, Rajecki played just as well as she was during the Pack’s postseason run in 2023 — against a ranked opponent, no less. After bringing her championship form to the ITA weekend, Rajecki was near-flawless in her straight-sets win over No. 18 Loudmilla Bencheikh.
To clinch the win, No. 40 Zyryanova played her first match of the season on court three and lived up to the task. Thanks to a fast first set, she downed her opponent 6-1, 6-4 to end the match at 4-0. Zyryanova’s strong fall season earned her a high singles ranking for the Pack’s 2024 campaign.
“I was not really playing a lot last season, and I think I did a really good job in the fall,” Zyryanova said. “… I was working really hard. I was playing a lot of matches, both college, and just the tour ones. So I think it’s just putting all the work together, and it worked out for me.”
After beating Alabama, NC State will face either Iowa or Clemson for a chance to advance to Seattle for the National Indoor Team Championships.
“It’s a very important weekend,” Zyryanova said. “It’s qualifying matches for indoors. We didn’t make it last time, so I think it’s pretty important for our team to claim a high ranking and to make the indoors.”
Last season, NC State was upset by Vanderbilt while hosting the ITA Kickoff Weekend. With many chances for ranked wins awaiting the team in Washington, the Wolfpack is hungry to avenge last season’s loss to the Commodores.
First serve against either the Tigers or Hawkeyes is set for 3 p.m. in Raleigh on Sunday, Jan. 28.
