The NC State women’s tennis team has had a very solid season to date. The team has beaten the teams it was supposed to beat and been competitive even in its losses. While there have been many positives to take away from the season, the team is looking at a very small path towards an ACC regular season title given its losses on the season.
From the start of the season, the Wolfpack (12-3, 6-2 ACC) knew it had a good team and has shown that in many ways. Fifth-year Anna Rogers was able to return after a season shortened by COVID-19 to become the first player in school history with 100 doubles and singles wins. She also is ranked No. 5 in singles and is ranked No. 14 in doubles with her partner, junior Alana Smith. Smith is also ranked in singles at No. 27.
The other standout doubles pair is senior Jaeda Daniel and fifth-year Adriana Reami, who are ranked No. 7 in doubles. In addition to the high rankings, the team is very deep, having seven singles players with five or more wins.
The Pack has used this star power to its advantage for most of the season. The team has six shutout wins and three wins over ranked teams this season. Overall, the team rarely leaves a match looking anything short of dominant. However, in the extremely competitive ACC, rarely is still too often.
Most teams would probably say there’s no such thing as a good loss, but NC State’s three losses have certainly all come against good teams.
The most disappointing loss came to the lowest-ranked opponent of the three teams, No. 13 Georgia Tech. It was a close 4-3 match, but NC State underperformed in doubles, which was all it took to swing the match in favor of Georgia Tech.
The other two losses, against No. 4 Florida State and No. 6 Northwestern, were easier losses to swallow given the teams rankings and how close NC State kept the matches.
These losses do narrow the path to an ACC regular season title for NC State, though it is still possible. The Wolfpack currently sit in fourth place in the ACC behind No. 4 Florida State, No. 15 Virginia and No. 1 UNC.
Currently, NC State is tied in losses with Florida State and only one loss behind Virginia with a chance remaining to take on the Cavaliers on April 11. With a win over Virginia and another loss from Florida State, a path to second place in the ACC seems feasible. However, to win the ACC, NC State would have to get past UNC.
UNC has completely dominated opponents this season. In ACC play, UNC has only dropped four points. It has wins over No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida State, No. 8 Duke and No. 9 Ohio State, and those are just its wins inside the top 10.
So, even if NC State is able to upset UNC, it’s hard to imagine a situation where UNC drops a second match. Especially given its highest ranked remaining opponent, besides NC State, is No. 26 Wake Forest.
Despite a solid regular season, NC State seems unlikely to finish anywhere outside the range of second to fifth place in the ACC with a real chance to finish fourth or fifth. This can’t be what the team had hoped for at the beginning of the season; however, with the talent of the team, it may be able to take the lessons of those close losses and do something special in the postseason.
