The women’s tennis team was dominant in its singles matches en route to a 7-0 home opening victory over UNC-Greensboro at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Complex Sunday afternoon.
The Wolfpack (1-0) took two of the three doubles matches to earn a 1-0 match lead early on. The doubles team of senior Nandita Chandrasekar and sophomore Elin Stahl Johansson knocked off the Spartans’ Whitey Miles and Erica Zabkar, 8-4, while State junior Agustina Arechavaleta and freshman Neils Barringer defeated Sarah Templeton and Sophie Rychlik, 8-3. The Pack’s only loss to the Spartans came when senior Barbara Orlay and freshman Alejandra Guerra fell in their doubles match 8-5.
Coach Hans Olsen said the team needs to get more aggressive when playing these matches.
“I just want them to play more aggressive in doubles,” Olsen said. “I think that’s the biggest thing we are going to focus on this week. We got to have a more aggressive mindset and more attacking patterns in the doubles matches.”
State played well in their singles matches starting with Chandrasekar, coming back from an injury that caused her to miss last season, winning 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 seed. The trend continued as Guerra and Orlay avenged their doubles loss by defeating Miles and Lisa Suggs respectively, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 3, and 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1.
Orlay, ranked No. 90 in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), said her power was important in her win.
“Most of her unforced errors came from the fact that I was overpowering her during the match,” Orlay said.
At No. 4, Johansson cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory while Barringer at No. 5 quickly won her match 6-0, 6-3. Arechavaleta finished the sweep with a score of 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6.
Barringer said her hot start was due to playing a well-rounded game.
“The first set I came out and I was playing really strong, serving well and not making many mistakes,” Barringer said. “I felt like I was really getting into a rhythm.”
The match marked the first career start and victory for both Guerra and Barringer. Barringer said she wants to ride the momentum into her next match.
“I hope this gives me the confidence in my next match to keep playing my game,” Barringer said.
Coach Olsen said he liked the improvement the team exhibited throughout the match.
“I thought it got better as the day went on, and we made some mistakes that we would in the first match,” Olsen said. “They were ready to go from the beginning, and I thought that was really good. I felt their intensity level was much stronger in the singles.”
Olsen said this win only makes the team want to get better.
“It gives us momentum going into practice this week,” he said. “It was good to get a win, but it makes us hungry to improve on some things. I think the girls are ready to get back to work this week.”
State’s next match is at home against Gardner-Webb Sunday at noon.
