No. 14 NC State women’s tennis has had its fair share of freshman phenoms stun crowds at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in recent years — Priska Nugroho in 2022, now-sophomore Maddy Zampardo in 2024 and of course, Diana Shnaider in 2023, who is now playing her way through the Australian Open.
After her swift two-set victory over No. 13 Savannah Broadus, you might want to add freshman Michaela Laki to that list.
The Wolfpack’s newest and brightest freshman stunned No. 10 Pepperdine’s most fearsome player in Broadus on Sunday in No. 14 NC State’s (2-0) ranked, 5-2 victory over the Waves (0-2).
The Pack beat the top-10 Pepperdine team in just its second match of the season, a few days after defeating Campbell (0-1) 7-0 in its season-opening match in Raleigh.
Vs. No. 10 Pepperdine, 5-2 win
NC State started its first ranked bout of the season in top form by succinctly taking the doubles round from the Waves. The young pair of Laki and sophomore Kristina Paskauskas swept Pepperdine’s No. 101 ranked duo 6-0, foreshadowing Laki’s other ranked upset just a couple hours later.
The Pack’s No. 5 duo of Zampardo and sophomore Gabriella Broadfoot secured the point for the red-and-white with a 6-2 win on court 1.
“It felt like we started very well in doubles,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “We looked the part and I wouldn’t say we played amazing, but we were super, super solid. And that continued a little bit into singles, but we had very good starts on at least three of the courts, and that gave us just enough respite to make our way through and close the match out.”
Even against the No. 10 Waves, NC State stayed the course in singles. Junior Anna Zyryanova dominated her ranked opponent, No. 90 Liam Oved, in a 6-1, 6-0 win to move the Wolfpack out to a 2-0 lead over its West Coast opponents. However, Pepperdine struck back with a straight-sets victory on court 3 over Kristina Paskauskas.
While Zyryanova and Paskauskas finished their matches, Laki closed in on her monumental win on court 1. It was a surprise for Laki — an unknown freshman who had only played one collegiate match just a few days earlier — to earn the court 1 nod against one of the best players in the nation. Even Earnshaw wasn’t sure of the move. However, he was confident in Laki’s ability.
“We know what she’s capable of and her resume, but I think the expectation is that she can play with those players,” Earnshaw said. “Now whether she can beat them or not this early is a little bit of a roll of the dice. But clearly, if you don’t roll the dice, you can’t win. And she did a good job managing tough starts to both sets.”
Despite finding herself down in both sets, including a 4-2 deficit in the first, Laki stayed in it against Boardus and battled. Embracing the pressure, Laki won four straight games to take the first set 6-4, and eventually, the second set by the same score.
“I mean, I was under pressure,” Laki said. “I knew I had to take the win and I’m really happy about it. I played some good tennis, I played at a good level. And I hope I can do more.”
Laki’s stunning victory put NC State into clinch position at 3-1 and proved to be a pivotal turning point in the match, one where Pepperdine was relying on its trusty veteran to beat her inexperienced freshman opponent.
“Her win today gave us a huge chance to win this match because I’m pretty sure Pepperdine was counting on that one,” Earnshaw said. “I bet if you go and look how many dual match losses Savannah Broadus has, you can count it on one hand in four years. So that was a huge, huge win. And I think a lot of people will be looking at us a little differently moving forward.”
Pepperdine did manage to make the match closer with a three-set victory over Broadfoot from No. 61 Vivian Yang, which placed the match at 3-2. However, NC State clinched its first ranked win of the season with a swift 6-0, 6-1 win from No. 55 freshman Gabia Paskauskas on court 6. To finish off the contest, Zampardo trudged through a close, three-set victory that ended in a third-set superbreaker. With Zampardo’s final score of 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-4), NC State moved to 2-0 on the season.
Vs. Campbell, 7-0 win
Just a couple days earlier the Pack opened its season against Campbell, sweeping the Camels 7-0 on Friday night.
Like against Pepperdine, NC State started strong in doubles, taking courts 1 and 2 courtesy of the pairs of Broadfoot and Zampardo and Zyryanova and freshman Mia Slama in respective 6-1, 6-0 wins.
In singles, Broadfoot and Zyryanova each won their first matches of the season in a pair of quick straight-set wins that featured minimal losses.
Laki got her first-ever collegiate start against the Camels, beating her opponent 6-0, 6-3. Laki said she is still trying to acclimate to college life after arriving on campus just a few weeks ago. However, the process has been made easier by her teammates and coaches.
“It’s pretty weird for me,” Laki said. “It’s just the beginning — it’s basically my third week of practicing. I’m trying to settle in and honestly, the girls made it so easy for me, they helped a lot. And the coaches are amazing. They have really good communication. So I think that helped me a lot to settle in.”
To finish off the win over the Camels, Kristina Paskauskas, Zampardo and Gabia Paskauskas each blanked their respective opponents in a trio of 6-0, 6-0 routs to finish off the sweep.
After the pair of wins, NC State is poised to hit the road for nearly a month, first traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee to compete in the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Despite sporting a roster of all underclassmen but one, Earnshaw is feeling optimistic about his team’s composition this season and going forward after the Pack’s strong first weekend.
“I think that we have a good energy this year, definitely happy to be here, and optimistic,” Earnshaw said. “And I think we’re in a pretty good building mode. I think it’s really a question of how long. I definitely think whether it’s this season or moving into the next couple, we’re looking pretty tough, yeah. And I think the fact that we’re back to sort of chasing that, I think, is refreshing.”
NC State is set to play Ohio State at the ITA Kickoff on Friday.
