The No. 3 NC State women’s tennis team beat No. 12 Wake Forest 5-2 for its third conference win on Friday afternoon at J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.
The Wolfpack (16-2, 3-0 ACC) started off strong with a couple of big doubles wins over Wake (9-2, 1-1 ACC). The No. 2 duo of senior Anna Rogers and sophomore Alana Smith continued its strong season with a 6-2 win. Junior Liz Norman and freshman Lana Mavor won their match 6-4.
The dramatics of the doubles matches came from senior Adriana Reami and junior Jaeda Daniel. While their match went unfinished, they ended their set winning two straight games after being behind 5-1.
Daniel and Reami obviously started their set slow but late on, they figured out that their opponents were crossing over on outside shots. When they started playing to counteract this strategy, the momentum shifted their way. This doubles point was big for the Wolfpack as it had lost its last two doubles points.
“Got away from things we do well. Actually got a little complacent, I would almost say,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “You just let it go here or there, one point here or there, and it can all just turn on its head.”
Earnshaw felt that this could be coming from mental fatigue since their numbers physically have stayed consistent. The team has been on the road for part of every weekend since the weekend of Jan. 24.
Reami almost swept her singles match (6-0, 6-1) and put the Wolfpack up 2-0. Reami said this win came thanks to her opponent not hitting too many deep balls which allowed her to play more aggressively than usual.
“Felt like she had her, especially coming off of doubles, pretty warm,” Reami said. “So once I had my serve going in, it was helping me take advantage of the opportunity.”
The next match to conclude was a loss for NC State’s junior Lexi Keberle (2-6, 2-6) which gave Wake Forest its first point of the match. Then, the Wolfpack won the three singles matches following that loss. Mavor won 6-4, 6-3, Rogers won 6-3, 7-5 and Daniel won 6-4, 6-3. Through six matches, the Wolfpack was leading 5-1 and had clinched the team win. The final match of the day ended in a close loss for Smith (5-7, 4-6) and the Pack finished the match with a 5-2 win.
The Wolfpack will take on No. 13 Virginia this Sunday at home as it hopes to stay undefeated in ACC play. This will be a hard record to keep up as nine ACC teams are ranked inside the top 20.
