Rock chalk, Wolfpack.
No. 4 NC State women’s tennis clobbered No. 25 Kansas in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Championships in Raleigh, sweeping the Jayhawks 4-0 to advance to the round of 16 in the Pack’s pursuit of a national championship.
Just a day after its dominant sweep over South Carolina State, NC State (25-4) brought out the brooms once again in a near-perfect match. In fact, the Wolfpack didn’t lose a single set all day and simply overpowered Kansas (15-8) to add another ranked win to its impressive 2023 resume.
“I think it’s a very clean match from us,” said junior Amelia Rajecki. “We didn’t drop a set. And we also took all three sets in doubles which is great, that doesn’t happen very often, especially clinch format.”
NC State was in sync right from the start, winning the doubles round with minimal losses on all three courts. First, juniors Sophie Abrams and Abigail Rencheli won 6-2 on court three while No. 9 fifth-year senior Nell Miller and Rajecki took court two by the same score. While those two courts were all the Pack needed to take the point, No. 4 freshman Diana Shnaider and graduate student Alana Smith won on court one seconds after Miller and Rajecki, making for a dominant doubles round.
The Wolfpack was just as ruthless in singles. Even though the Jayhawks made it close on a few courts, NC State denied Kansas a chance to get back into the match all day long.
“Obviously we were pretty efficient,” said assistant coach David Secker. “But I thought overall, to not drop a set against a good team, a team we know — sometimes when you know a team they can be quite comfortable playing us — I think to not drop a set is a pretty good performance.”
First, No. 26 Rajecki finished her match on court three, beating her opponent 6-4, 6-0 after the junior found her groove in her second set. Next, Abrams took court five via a 6-2, 6-2 decision, putting NC State in clinch position.
While the majority of their team raced through their first sets, No. 7 Shnaider and No. 13 Smith were met with some fierce competition in their first sets on courts one and two, respectively. However, both gutted out 7-5 wins in those sets, and by the end of their matches, they were racing to see who could finish the sweep off first.
In the end, it was Smith who got there first, winning her match 7-5, 6-2 just before Shnaider could finish hers. Meanwhile, Rencheli and junior Gina Dittmann’s matches were also cut short due to the clinch.
While the Wolfpack is through to the round of 16, NC State won’t be leaving Raleigh anytime soon. Set to host in the Super Regional Round, the Wolfpack will face Auburn after the Tigers upset one of the Pack’s bitter ACC rivals — No. 15 Miami.
“I think Auburn is going to be tough,” Rajecki said. “I think any match in the postseason is tough. At this point in the season we’ve all played loads of tennis, and we all are playing well. You also have nothing to lose in the postseason, you have everything to gain.”
With a national championship in its crosshairs, NC State’s play in the first two rounds of the tournament have been nothing short of excellent. But the Wolfpack will need to replicate that play against Auburn and any future opponents in order to win its first national team title in program history.
But after lifting the ACC Championship trophy nearly two weeks ago, NC State is chasing the feeling, and is determined to lift one more by the end of the 2023 season.
“I mean, I think we got a little taste of winning at the ACCs, and it was great, it was unbelievable,” Rajecki said. “[Winning a national championship] is always a dream. It’s our number one goal every year on our goal sheet — win NCAA’s — and I think for the program, for the coaches and for the players, it would be like a dream come true. So we’re going to put everything towards that and hopefully we can do it.”
The next step towards the championship match is set for Saturday, May 13 at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh. Follow along on twitter @Techsports for live updates.
