In its first match at home in almost a month, No. 7 NC State women’s tennis added not one, but two wins in its doubleheader day versus Syracuse and East Carolina on Friday, March 31.
First, the Wolfpack (16-2, 7-1 ACC) picked up its seventh conference victory in a 6-1 win over the Orange (11-6, 4-6 ACC). Shortly after, the red-and-white swept the Pirates 7-0 to cap off its near-perfect performance on the day.
Syracuse
NC State returned home from its five-match road trip with a match against Syracuse at 2 p.m. Through a swift doubles round and a dominating singles round, the Wolfpack thoroughly dismantled the Orange for yet another ACC win.
Before play even started, NC State was granted a doubles win by default due to Syracuse failing to fill its third lineup spot. From there, the 19th-ranked pair of junior Amelia Rajecki and fifth-year senior Nell Miller won 6-3, making for one of the Wolfpack’s most simple doubles victories of the season.
The subsequent singles round went just as smoothly for the red-and-white. The 24th-ranked Rajecki was first to strike — after winning her first set 6-1, her opponent was forced to retire, putting the lead at 2-0. Shortly after, Syracuse’s second player retired. This time it was on court six against Miller, and just like that, NC State held a 3-0 lead.
After the retirements, the next three matches resulted in dominating two-set victories for NC State’s players. No. 9 graduate student Alana Smith crushed her opponent 6-0, 6-2 on court one, while freshman Anna Zyryanova did nearly the same on court five via a 6-1, 6-4 decision.
The Pack’s final win of the day came from No. 58 junior Abigail Rencheli 6-4, 6-1. However, Syracuse got one back on the home side with a two-set victory over junior Gina Dittman on court four.
East Carolina
East Carolina received the same fate as the Orange, if not a worse one, in the second leg of the doubleheader at 6 p.m. NC State dished out another beating, sweeping the Pirates 7-0 and even upped its level of play from the first match.
Doubles saw Rajecki and Miller capture their second victory of the day as a pair in a 6-2 win. Rencheli and Smith also cruised past their Pirate opponents in the doubles round by a score 6-1, gifting the Pack a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
NC State then put on a scintillating singles sweep by winning every match in straight sets. First to strike was Smith, who got another easy win on court one, this time via a 6-2, 6-0 decision. Next, Dittman bounced back from her earlier loss with a 6-2, 6-1 win on court four to put the Pack up 3-0.
To clinch the match, Rajecki captured a 6-3, 6-0 win on court two and was quickly followed by Rencheli’s 6-2, 6-4 win on court three. To finish off the sweep, Zyryanova and Miller pulled off their own straight-set wins on courts five and six, respectively.
After NC State’s near-perfect day, the Wolfpack turns its attention to another ACC opponent in Boston College. Play against the Eagles is set for Sunday, April 2 at 12 p.m.
