The NC State women’s tennis team remains undefeated after the weekend, as the team rolled past Winthrop, 7-0, and Georgia State, 4-3.
The Wolfpack (4-0) refused to give up a single match when facing the Winthrop Eagles on Friday afternoon.
State swept Winthrop in doubles play. The pair of senior Sophie Nelson and senior Nicole Martinez defeated Winthrop’s senior Ekin Gunaysu and freshman Mariana Humberg by a score of 6-4.
Senior Elisha Hande and junior Joanna Nalborska clinched the doubles point after taking down junior Alice Garcia and junior Tijana Uzelac by a score of 6-2.
In singles, No. 66 Nalborska was first off the court after beating Garcia in both sets, 6-4, 6-1.
After dropping her first set 5-7, Pack sophomore Liza Fieldsend rebounded to win out against Gunaysu, winning her final two sets 6-3, 6-2.
Hande sealed the win for the Pack after defeating Uzelac after a close first set, 7-6, then finishing with a 6-2 set win to take the match.
The Wolfpack faced stiffer competition when going toe-to-toe against the Georgia State Panthers (4-3) on Sunday morning.
Georgia State struck first, as the Panthers won two of the three doubles matches.
The No. 40 nationally ranked pair of sophomore Tarani Kamoe and junior Linn Timmermann were too quick and aggressive for Nelson and Martinez to handle, as the Georgia State duo took an easy 6-1 doubles victory to start the day.
Georgia State’s junior Niri Rasolomalala and freshman Kristen Rehse followed suit, defeating Hande and Nalborska by a score of 6-2, and thus winning the doubles point for the Panthers.
“We’ve got to do a lot better in doubles,” NC State head coach Simon Earnshaw said. “The format is a little bit hit-or-miss because it’s so fast. If you don’t get going from the get go, you can get yourself in a hole.”
Though Georgia State won the doubles point, the Pack pair of Fieldsend and sophomore Natalia Janowicz won the third match, 6-4, over sophomore Marcia Tere-Apisah and senior Masa Grgan.
The Wolfpack women fought back in the early portion of singles to spread momentum throughout the team.
“It definitely helped that after the doubles, we had two quick wins,” Earnshaw said. “It helped us hang in there with the couple of matches we were struggling in.”
At No. 2, Fieldsend dominated her opponent in No. 102 ranked Rasolomalala 6-1, 6-2. Nalborska followed, easing past Grgan by a score of 6-2, 6-1, to put NC State up 2-1 against the Panthers.
“It was a quick match for me,” Nalborska said. “I tried to be aggressive on the court and sometimes go to the net and finish the points, and I had a positive attitude, that helped me a lot.”
Georgia State’s Chaimaa Roudami answered State’s attack by defeating Nelson by a score of 6-3, 7-5 to even the score between the two teams.
The key matchup fell at the No. 3 spot between Hande and No. 69 Timmermann. After dropping the first set 3-6, Hande rebounded and counterattacked, winning the second set, 6-3. Going into the third set, Hande’s shots became increasingly powerful and consistent while Timmerman fell victim to her own frustrations. Hande won the final set with ease, 6-1, giving her team a 3-2 lead.
After winning her first set and dropping the second, Martinez realized that the final set would likely determine the winning outcome for either team. Martinez rose to the challenge and wore her opponent out, forcing Georgia’s Kristen Rehse to move from frontcourt to backcourt and everywhere in between, winning the set 6-3 the seal the victory for the Wolfpack.
NC State looks to stay undefeated, as the team will compete in a Sunday doubleheader against Louisiana State at 11 a.m. and UNC-Wilmington at 5 p.m.
