Wolfpack women split Thursday double header

The Wolfpack women’s tennis team split its two games Thursday, losing a close battle against Tennessee, 4-3, but redeeming itself with a 5-2 victory against ECU in the night match.

Against ECU, State’s (4-4) doubles teams put on a clinic winning the point quickly. First, junior Amanda Rebol and sophomore Adriana Reami defeated Maria Gomez and Alisa Diercksen of ECU by a score of 6-1. The next match was a 6-2 victory orchestrated by seventh-ranked duo juniors Claudia Wiktorin and Anna Rogers who defeated ECU’s Lisa Hofbauer and Celia Ruiz. The No. 7 ranking of Rogers and Wiktorin is tied for the highest in program history.

NC State followed up the doubles performance by dominating the singles matchup as well, winning the first three matches to seal a Wolfpack victory.

Wiktorin, who was already warmed up from doubles, came out strong on court five and quickly defeated Annija Veinsteina, 6-2, 6-0, to give the Wolfpack some breathing room. Next up, freshman Helene Grimm had another strong showing and notched the Wolfpack’s second singles victory of the night by defeating Hsia Ho Chiao, 6-2, 6-0. To cement the victory, sophomore Adriana Reami defeated Lisa Hofbauer by a score of 6-4, 6-0.

Two out of the next three matches went to ECU as freshman Taylor Bridges lost 6-2, 6-4 and junior Bianca Moldovan was defeated 6-2, 6-3.

The final match of the night was between the number one positions as Rogers faced No. 53 Celia Ruiz for the second time on the night The first set belonged to Ruiz, through her excellent placement and pace on the ball, she won 6-3. Rogers was not discouraged, but rather inspired and came out hitting hard in the second set to shut Ruiz out with a score of 6-0. The match then went into a tie-break where Rogers got an early lead and never let up to win 10-8 and 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 for the match.

The women are back on the courts in Raleigh Sunday at 2 p.m., when they take on rival Duke for their first ACC match of the season.