No. 7 NC State women’s captured its second straight road victory in a win against UCF, handily outdueling the Knights in a 6-1 in a victory that marks the halfway point of the Pack’s five-match road trip.
Days after defeating Florida State 6-1 in Tallahassee, Florida, the red-and-white put on a repeat performance when it traveled a few hours across the state to Lake Nona to take on the Knights (7-7). This time, NC State (12-2, 4-1 ACC) got back to its winning ways in doubles and took five out of six singles matches for its 12th win of the season.
After surprisingly losing the doubles point against the Seminoles in its last outing, there was little chance for NC State to concede the early advantage in two straight matches. So as expected, the Pack’s pairs didn’t disappoint against the Knights, winning the two matches needed to get the point.
First, juniors Abigail Rencheli and Sophie Abrams cruised past their opponents on court three 6-1, and even though the Knights won on court two, the No. 18 pair of freshman Diana Shnaider and graduate student Alana Smith took care of business on court one. To finish their 6-4 win over the No. 61 pair in the country, Smith smoked an ace out of her opponent’s reach, putting the Pack up 1-0.
Singles went just as smoothly as the previous round for NC State, and first to win for the Wolfpack was No. 35 Shnaider on court one. After blanking her opponent — No. 30 Marie Mattel — in her first set, Mattel retired in the second, resulting in the Pack doubling its lead.
Next, No. 9 Smith won via a 6-4, 6-1 decision, but after that, the rest of NC State’s victories didn’t come so easily. No. 18 junior Amelia Rajecki clinched the match at 4-0 with her three-set, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win on court three.
After Rajecki’s victory, the Knights got their only win of the day — a three-set victory on court five over No. 123 Abrams.
To finish it off, Rencheli and fifth-year senior Nell Miller both earned three-set wins on their respective courts, both winning their first and third sets to defeat their opponents.
After NC State’s win over UCF, the Wolfpack will continue the back half of its monstrous road trip. Next, the red-and-white will travel to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame on Friday, March 24 at 3:30 p.m.
