The NC State women’s tennis team was represented by two doubles pairs at the NCAA Doubles Championship. This alone was a large accomplishment, given only 32 doubles pairs are selected for the tournament. Both pairs were able to pick up a win but senior Jaeda Daniel and fifth-yeah Adriana Reami fell in the second round, whereas fifth-year Anna Rogers and junior Alana Smith made it to the semifinals before losing.
Jaeda Daniel and Adriana Reami
Jaeda Daniel and Reami seemed to get better through each match of the season. Despite being the No. 2 doubles pair for NC State, they certainly played like a No. 1 pair for much of the season. After starting the season at No. 16, the pair moved all the way up to No. 5 thanks to their 20-5 record in the regular season. While their doubles season may have not gone as far as they had hoped, it certainly was a great season.
Their tournament started out with a very close victory over Pepperdine’s Jessica Failla and Shiori Fukuda. Both sets were won in tiebreakers. After trailing early, the Pack pair battled back to take the first set to a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was dominated by Daniel and Reami, who took the first set 7-6 (2). After another close set, Daniel and Reami were again able to win a tiebreaker taking the second set and the match, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4).
The duo struggled the following day against Jayci Goldsmith and Tatiana Makarova of Texas A&M. Daniel and Reami fell behind early and couldn’t keep it close. The pair lost the match 6-2, 6-3 which brought an end to their season. Despite the somewhat early exit, the pair’s season should be celebrated. Given their ranking, both Daniel and Reami earned All-American status. Additionally, the pair finished with a 25-6 record which made Reami second all-time in program history for doubles wins with 94.
Anna Rogers and Alana Smith
Rogers and Smith were ranked nationally as the No. 2 doubles pair to start the season. While they didn’t quite live up to that ranking, they certainly had a good season. The pair finished the regular season at No. 12 and also finished with 20 wins. The pair showed more of that dominance that earned them the No. 2 ranking in the postseason.
In Rogers and Smith’s first round match, they faced off against Stanford’s Michaela Gordon and Niluka Madurawe. The match was tight in the first set, getting all the way to 6-5 before Rogers and Smith broke their opponents to take the set, 7-5. From there, Rogers and Smith just dominated the match, winning 7-5, 6-1.
In the round of 16, Rogers and Smith were forced into a much more competitive match. In fact, it may have been the pair’s most exciting doubles match of the season when it took on Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova from Duke. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Smith and Rogers came roaring back to win 6-4 in the second set to force a third set tiebreaker. Even the tiebreaker was tight as Rogers and Smith narrowly won 10-7 and won the match 6-7 (5), 6-4, 1-0 (10-7).
The quarterfinal was another strong showing for Rogers and Smith. With the pair facing off against Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart from UCLA, they only needed two sets to get the win. It took a tiebreaker after a back-and-forth first set for Rogers and Smith to take a one-set lead. The pair gave themselves a bit more breathing room in the second set and finished off their opponents 7-6 (4), 6-3. This outdid their own program-best run, becoming the first pair from NC State to reach the semifinals of the NCAA Doubles Championships after falling to do so in the quarterfinals of 2019.
The semifinals appearance finally ended what had been a historic run for Rogers and Smith. While they kept it competitive, they never seemed in control losing to UNC’s Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty, falling in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Rogers and Smith’s historic run as doubles partners ended with the match. The pair went an incredible 89-21 over the past three seasons.
