It’s not every day you get to witness a thrilling playoff matchup on your own turf. A match with unexpected twists and turns, big crowd pops and trophy presentations.
After it seemed to be headed down the wrong path to start, No. 8 NC State women’s tennis delivered just those things, on the way to defeating No. 9 Texas and securing a berth in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
The Pack (25-7) dropped the doubles point despite having the upper hand, with Texas (19-8) 0-2 in the doubles during the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, losing it to Tarleton State and No. 28 Texas Tech. NC State had a big hill to climb against Texas’s formidable singles lineup, which boasted two top-10 players. But after No. 26 sophomore Mia Slama toppled No. 3 Carmen Herea and No. 46 senior Anna Zyryanova took down No. 6 Anastasia Abbagnato, the path opened.
“We thought we had a big advantage in the doubles point, but after five minutes of that doubles, it didn’t seem like it, did it?,” head coach Simon Earnshaw said. “I was just looking down the court, you’re thinking, ‘okay, I mean, we’ve really got to get those two first sets,’ and both of them came through.”
With the Wolfpack leading 3-2, two courts remained in action. The 2025 NCAA doubles champion pairing, freshman Victoria Osuigwe and No. 49 junior Gabriella Broadfoot, were playing on adjacent courts, with just one needing to come through to clinch for the red-and-white.
Osuigwe got it done 7-5 in her final set against No. 104 Elizabeth Ionescu, with Broadfoot not too far behind, leading No. 57 Eszter Meri 4-0. Osuigwe was shaky toward the end, unable to close out multiple games with clinching opportunities. But as Broadfoot took charge on Court 3, Osuigwe found her game and put a stamp on the victory.
That finish felt eerily similar to the ACC semifinal against UNC-Chapel Hill, where Slama and Osuigwe were looking to clinch, and where Slama would go on to pick up a monumental win for the clinch while Osuigwe provided backup. This time, the freshman got it done with some home-crowd help.
“I was in the same position where I was up, and then she would come back, and then up again, come back,” Osuigwe said. “I’m just glad, we actually had a bunch of fans that came out to support and helping me to actually finish it through this time. So it felt very relieving to have that.”
No. 3 Broadfoot and Osuigwe had a brutal start to the doubles, getting bested 2-6 by No. 71 Abbagnato and Ionescu. No. 49 Zyryanova and junior Jasmine Conway fell in a closer match 5-7, but the result was the same, as the Pack lost the point to a team who has used 16 different doubles combinations this season and not found much rhythm.
The red-and-white was down, but not out, as it rallied to take two of the next three points.
“We told ourselves in the huddle that we need to win on every single court, fight on everything we can, since we did,” Osuigwe said. “I mean, to lose the deciding one in doubles. We knew that we had to fight really hard just to get it back.”
Luckily for the Pack, freshman Lavinia Tanasie continued her run as a buzzsaw for NC State’s opponents. Tanasie hasn’t lost a match since March 19, and quickly mowed down Christasha McNeil 6-3, 6-2 to get the Pack even.
Then came something unexpected. Slama not only took down the No. 3 player in the country in Harea, but she also delivered a bagel, winning the final set 6-0 after an intense 7-5 win in the first set.
After earning the ACC Championship MVP, she has much out-performed her national ranking with her second top 10 win of the season.
“I didn’t really see much of that match,” Earnshaw said. “But I could see we were kind of hanging in there in the first set, both on Mia and Anna’s courts… I was a little surprised that we were able to get through the second sets as quickly as they did. That’s just as good as the [No. 2 Reese Brantmeier] win for me. It just shows you how far she’s come.”
Next to her on Court 2, Zyryanova was also pulling off a massive upset versus Abbagnato. The senior has played in big-time matches like these, including being a part of the National Championship runner up team in 2023, and her experience showed. After a gritty first-set tie-break win 7-6(4), she dominated the second set 6-1.
Earnshaw and Osuigwe credited the crowd for helping the Pack over the edge, with Earnshaw saying the home crowd was worth one point. After a dispute on Court 3 as one of the Texas assistant coaches was running on the court complaining about a line call, the crowd got more rowdy. It seemed like the Longhorns were searching, and the Wolfpack sensed blood.
“It was a little chaotic there at times,” Earnshaw said. “Then as we reached maybe our first match point there, it just got really ridiculous. I mean, the officials also … The officials in tennis can be a little too passive. I may be criticizing, maybe I’m going to get fined, but they’ve got to take control of the situation as well, because I don’t think anybody knew what the hell was going on there for a while. It makes sense that they just kind of go with it in that moment, because if they can see that our player is a little bit tight, any more stimulation you can add, is gonna add to that and obviously, it was kind of working.”
With the win, the Pack is slated to face No. 1 Georgia in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Pack is 2-0 against Georgia in the 2020s, with a 4-1 win in 2020 and a 4-2 win in 2022.
“We’ve done well against Georgia in the past and I think it’s gonna be this environment multiplied by about 50, I would say,” Earnshaw said. “And I think that’s the biggest thing, from an excitement standpoint, that the girls get to experience this.”
NC State will face off against Georgia at 4 p.m. on Friday, May 15 in Athens, Georgia at the beginning of championship weekend.
