The No. 2 NC State women’s tennis team took on its third doubleheader of the season as it battled No. 14 Miami down to the last minute, outlasting the Hurricanes 4-3 on the back of some clutch singles performances, followed by a dominant 7-0 show against Elon in the second match, continuing the team’s extraordinary season.
Now 14-1 on the season, the Pack added its second ACC win, improving the squad’s conference record to 2-0 after claiming back-to-back wins against Florida State and Miami.
Miami
The Wolfpack faced its second conference opponent of the season in its matchup with Miami. The Hurricanes put forth an extremely impressive effort, but the Pack held firm after being down 3-2, claiming clutch singles wins late in the match, including a heroic three set match from senior Nell Miller to win the first match of the day 4-3.
With the match being tied at 3-3, Miller took her first set and lost her second while in the deciding third set, she was able to pull off an intense comeback, winning six straight games after being down 4-1. Miller took the tense affair 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, claiming the match win for the Wolfpack.
Before Miller took the deciding match at 3-3, No. 9 graduate student Jaeda Daniel was able to put the Pack in clinch position with her clutch 7-5, 6-4 win on court one. The Pack’s only other singles win came from sophomore Amelia Rajecki, who took court six in yet another extremely close match, winning 6-4, 7-5.
Early on, the Wolfpack took the doubles point with three consecutive 6-4 wins from all doubles pairings. While the pairings of No. 16 Daniel and Miller, as well as No. 51 Rajecki and sophomore Abigail Rencheli officially took the doubles point, freshman Priska Nugroho and sophomore Sophie Abrams also won their match 6-4.
No. 24 Rencheli, Nugroho, and Abrams all fell in their singles matches, while all matches were very tightly contested, Miami was able to claim three singles wins before the Pack took the last two for its 4-3 win.
Elon
In the second match of the day, the Wolfpack swept Elon 7-0, adding its second win on the day and 14th on the season.
Starting with the doubles round, the reliable duo of Rajecki and Rencheli took the first match of the second round 6-1, followed by Nugroho and senior Sara Nayar’s 6-4 victory on court three to take the doubles point. Daniel and Miller also took the last doubles court 6-3, as all pairs continued the Pack’s trend of doubles domination over the course of the season.
NC State put on an impressive singles display in the late match as they blanked Elon in the second match. Nugroho started the Pack off with a commanding 6-2, 6-0 win on court three which was shortly followed by Rajecki’s second singles victory of the day as she won 6-1, 7-5, putting the Pack in clinch position.
In her second singles match, Rencheli clinched the Pack’s second overall win of the day as she took the court two battle 6-3, 6-2. Daniel claimed yet another tense singles win in a tense three set battle that she took 6-2, 6-7, 1-0 (7-5).
Both Nayar and Abrams also had three set bouts that they played through as the Pack blanked Elon. Nayar won her match 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 while Abrams completed the sweep with a long 7-5, 6-7 1-0 (7-3) win on court four.
The Pack will look to continue to add to its impressive resume and ranking as the squad takes on another ranked conference opponent in No. 15 Wake Forest on Tuesday, March 8, at 2 p.m.
