No. 6 NC State women’s tennis captured its eleventh-straight win over Wake Forest, beating the Demon Deacons 6-1 in Raleigh on Friday, March 8.
The Wolfpack had no trouble in sending the Demon Deacons back to Winston-Salem with just one point in the 6-1 victory. After dominating in doubles, NC State cleared out the Demon Deacons for the majority of the singles round.
With Wake Forest forcing two three-set matches, its only point of the day came from a superbreaker win over senior Abigail Rencheli while freshman Maddy Zampardo pulled through in her late, match-deciding superbreaker.
Early on, NC State won the doubles round with just one game lost between courts two and three. Rencheli and freshman Gabriella Broadfoot blanked their opponents on court three while the No. 9 pair of senior Sophie Abrams and sophomore Anna Zyryanova won 6-1 on court two.
Heading into singles with a 1-0 lead, NC State kept its foot on the gas as Broadfoot nearly swept her opponent in a crushing 6-1, 6-0 win on court six. Up 2-0, senior Gina Dittmann quickly put NC State into clinch position with a succinct 6-1, 6-3 win on court five that was good for her fifth-straight match win.
To clinch the contest, was none other than No. 3 senior Amelia Rajecki, who made quick work of her ranked opponent. Rajecki downed Wake Forest’s No. 28 Casie Wooten in straight sets with a final score of 6-1, 6-4. With her victory, NC State clinched its third-straight ACC win of the season.
From there, the red-and-white knocked down the final two-set match of the day. No. 82 Abrams downed the Demon Deacons’ Marcella Cruz on court three 6-1, 6-3, putting NC State up 5-0.
With the match clinched, the final two matches — both of which went to three sets — were decided with third-set superbreakers. Even after blanking her opponent in her second set, Rencheli fell 10-8 in a tightly contested breaker, giving Wake its only point of the day in a 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (10-8) win on court two.
NC State fought back with the final win of the day courtesy of Zampardo on court four. Like Rencheli, she dropped her first set but raced past her opponent in the second. Zampardo hunkered down in her superbreaker, taking down Wake’s Nevena Carton 10-5 for a final score of 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-5).
With Zampardo’s day-ending three-set win, NC State won its fifth-straight match and eleventh-straight match over the Demon Deacons.
Next, the Wolfpack’s set to embark on a short, two-match road trip up north to play Syracuse and Boston College. First serve in New York against the Orange is set for Friday, March 15 at 3 p.m.
