Ronald Nause
Seven, seven and nine. Those are the total number of wins the women’s tennis team accumulated over the past three years. This year, coach Hans Olsen’s squad already surpassed the win totals from those years with 11 — and there are eight more matches to go.
Replacing any preseason uncertainty surrounding the loss of five experienced Wolfpack players has been the performances of the first- and second-year players. Freshmen and sophomores account for 80 percent of the team’s singles victories.
“It’s been a great start and now we’re in the middle of it,” coach Hans Olsen said. “As far as how much the girls are into what they’re doing with their team and with their tennis and really being passionate, it’s one of the best teams I’ve ever coached. It’s exciting. It’s a nice balance of young players and some senior leadership.”
The overall young team has climbed as high as No. 40 in the polls, and now sits at No. 50. The recognition first came after the school’s first-ever victory over a top-25 opponent — Florida International — and tied the best start in school history in the process.
“At the beginning of the season the teams were a bit easier, but we’re heading into a lot of ACC matches now, and all those teams are ranked. So all those matches are going to be tough,” freshman Shona Lee said.
Four freshmen — Lee, Alejandra Guerra, Neils Barringer and Arielle Von Strolley — have filled in the holes left by players lost from last season’s team, winning 27 singles matches combined.
After opening the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in 2004, Olsen said it appears the award-winning facility is paying off in recruiting players who can play immediately.
“I think a lot of credit for that goes to Nandita and Barbara, our seniors. Their leadership style has been to the point where they really have made the new girls feel comfortable right away,” he said.
“For girls [who] want to come in and are really interested in coming in and developing their game and playing at a high level, then they have a place to practice and they have the facilities to do that.”
Lee, a native of New Zealand, was named ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 20 after going 4-0 in singles in just her first two weeks. After knocking off one ranked player on Wake Forest and nearly another from North Carolina, Lee moved into the rankings at No. 123.
“They didn’t have any problems playing college tennis, all four of them,” senior Barbara Orlay said.
The team has been spearheaded by Orlay’s consistent play. Originally from Hungary, she has played as the top seed for N.C. State for almost two years, facing the top players in the conference and the nation.
“Being in the ACC, it doesn’t matter if you play No. 1 or No. 6. They’re all tough matches,” Orlay said. “I just look forward to playing someone who is ranked high, but I think the ranking really doesn’t say anything.”
Orlay was part of the pairing that picked up the deciding victory for the doubles point and won the deciding singles match in a 7-6 tiebreaker in the team’s match against Princeton.
“Barbara’s having a great year,” Olsen said. “Every match she’s played has been a really hard-fought match … she really is looking to finishing strong and feeling like she left everything out there in her last year.”
Orlay recently re-entered the national rankings for her accomplishments in singles. She has also teamed up with Guerra in doubles competition and helped place the pairing in the top 40.
“We get along really well on and off the court,” Orlay said. “To me, it’s very important to play doubles with somebody I really like, [and we] understand each other.” State has won the doubles point in 11 out of 15 matches. They performed the same feat only nine times last season.
The first part of the ACC schedule pitted the Pack against three of the top teams in the nation in Carolina, Duke and Wake, and the team lost all three. The remaining schedule continues the trend — all future opponents are in conference and all are ranked.
“I feel like we’ve had some good wins this season which has boosted our confidence a little heading into the ACC [play],” sophomore Julia Roach said. “We’ve played the toughest ACC teams so we feel like this next half we have a chance to win and play well.”