No. 11 NC State took care of business in J.W. Isenhour Tennis complex on Friday by beating Louisville by a score of 6-1.
The win over the Cardinals (10-4, 2-2) comes after the Wolfpack (11-3, 3-1) suffered its first home loss of the season against No. 1 UNC-Chapel Hill Wednesday.
NC State started the match off strong by winning the doubles point. Junior Anna Rogers and freshman Alana Smith won 6-4, and junior Adriana Reami and senior Claudia Wiktorin won 6-3). All three matches were competitive, as Louisville’s pair of Raven Neely and Diana Wong fought back from a 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead before the match was suspended.
Rogers, ranked as the 25th individual player in the country, dominated her singles match and won 6-1, 6-2. Despite impressive serve speed from her opponent Sena Suswam, Rogers was able to counter it with accurate shots and few mistakes.
“I just kept my game plan, I think,” Rogers said. “[Suswam] is obviously a very big hitter, so I was just thinking, ‘Stay in the point until I had my opportunity to press,’ and that’s it.”
This win was followed by another by Smith who won 6-3, 6-2. Her singles match also featured a lot of power, coming from both her racket and that of her opponent, Nikolina Jovic.
“It was an adjustment I had to make,” Smith said. “ I didn’t know how she played before so I had to just to that and I think I adjusted well.”
Reami scored the clinching point soon after by winning her singles match up 6-3, 6-2, and seniors Bianca Moldovan (6-3, 5-7, 10-5) and Amanda Rebol (6-1, 6-4) also notched victories for the Pack.
The Wolfpack won despite fierce battling from Louisville as the Cardinals sustained long rallies to keep points alive and forced NC State to fight for every game. Even in the matches with lopsided final scores, most games were close and many came down to deciding points on deuces. The match itself was a marathon, lasting nearly four hours.
The Wolfpack will continue its recent stretch of tough ACC opponents as it faces No. 44 Notre Dame on Sunday, March 3. The match will be in J.W. Isenhour Tennis Complex at 12 p.m.
