N.C. State took eight of the nine matches Tuesday afternoon en route to a 6-1 victory over Charlotte at the Isenhour Tennis Complex.
The Wolfpack’s only loss Tuesday was at the No. 1 singles slot, as the 49ers’ Ana Spivakovsky took down No. 86 Daria Petrovic 6-3, 6-1.
“Daria just didn’t play well,” coach Hans Olsen said. “We all have those days where you’re just not there. I think today was that day for her.”
Petrovic said she felt like she couldn’t hit anything in bounds.
“It was just one of those days,” she said. “I couldn’t get the ball into the court, but [Spivakovsky] played well. I have to give her credit. I had one other match this season where I played like this, and I managed to come out with a win. But, today, I let it affect me too much, and I shouldn’t let that happen.”
Petrovic said she let her frustrations get the better of her, which affected her play for the rest of the match.
“It’s just bad,” Petrovic said. “It doesn’t help you improve. I just need to come out and practice tomorrow, come out positive. That’s tennis. You just need to compete.”
State (9-5, 0-3 ACC) earned the doubles point, sweeping all three doubles matches to start the afternoon. Petrovic and Alejandra Guerra won at the No. 1 spot, 8-6.
“[Daria and Alejandra] competed hard and got a win,” Olsen said. “They didn’t play that well, but they got going and working together.”
Teams of Julia Roach and Kate Green and Berkeley Brock and Kristin Bleakley each won their doubles matches 8-0, giving the Pack the sweep.
“The doubles point is very important,” Brock said. “It may not seem like a lot because it’s only one point, but it can really make a difference. It puts so much more pressure on you when you lose a doubles match.”
At No. 2 singles, Brock cruised 6-1, 6-1, playing almost nonchalantly at times yesterday.
“Berkeley really moved well and competed well,” Olsen said. “She got out from the beginning in the doubles and singles and really had a nice calm focus. That works for her. She didn’t worry about the little things; she focused on moving and competing. When she can do that, she’s very tough.”
She said a key to her victory was keeping frustration from affecting her focus.
“You can get frustrated with yourself and you get down about the point before, and you’re not all there for the current point,” Brock said. “I felt like I rebounded well when I lost a point. If you start a point unfocused, you’re not going to get focused until the end of the point, and by then you’re hitting short balls and you’re playing stupid. They’ll take advantage of that.”
At No. 3 singles, Guerra found herself with an early 3-1 lead in the first set, but Ali Piacente fought back before Guerra eventually won the match 7-5, 6-3.
“With everybody, I tell them once you find something that works for you, keep going to it,” Olsen said. “[Guerra] kind of went away from it for a little bit and came back to it. She just needs to keep it simple and play good-percentage shots. Once she gets going, she just needs to keep coming back to what’s working. For the most part, everybody did really well with that today.”
Petrovic said the team victory takes the sting of her individual defeat.
“That makes it great,” she said. “They all played really well. I’m really proud of them.”