No. 7 NC State women’s tennis downed No. 21 Washington 4-1 in the first round of the ITA Indoor Championships in Seattle.
The Wolfpack (7-0) earned its berth in the quarterfinals of the ITAs after beating the hosting Huskies (6-1) at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle. After claiming the early doubles point, NC State won three out of the first four singles matches to earn its second ranked match win of the season.
Despite the Huskies’ loud home crowd, the Wolfpack persevered through a tough opening match of its 2024 run in the ITAs.
“I think anytime that a home team has a crowd like that, especially indoors, it’s gonna have an impact on the match,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “I think it helped Washington, certainly throughout the course of the match, and I think that made it difficult for us.”
Through all the noise, NC State claimed the doubles point. The Wolfpack and Huskies split the first two matches, but the red-and-white silenced the crowd with a deciding 7-5 win on court three from senior Abigail Rencheli and freshman Gabriella Broadfoot. Senior Amelia Rajecki and freshman Maddy Zampardo got the Pack’s first doubles win — a 6-4 victory on court two.
The Wolfpack carried its doubles momentum into singles, winning an impressive five out of the six first sets. Even though Washington fought back, forcing three-set matches on three courts, NC State’s strong start played a major role in its overall win.
“Doubles point, five first sets in singles — I think at that point, I felt like we had enough to get the win,” Earnshaw said. “But there was still a wrinkle or two.”
Those wrinkles came after Zampardo doubled the Wolfpack’s lead with a succinct 6-1, 6-2 win on court six. The Huskies prolonged the match by taking Rajecki, Rencheli and senior Gina Dittmann to third sets on their respective courts and by beating senior Sophie Abrams in straight sets on court four, 6-4, 6-2.
Sophomore Anna Zyryanova put the Pack in clinch position with a 6-4, 6-2 win of her own. Despite going down 3-0 in her first set, the sophomore caught fire, winning 12 out of her next 15 games against her opponent, Astrid Olsen.
With Earnshaw confident in his team’s ability to succeed on other courts, Zyryanova’s victory put the writing on the wall for the home side.
“I felt coming into the match that we were going quite an edge at [courts] one, five and six — at least on paper,” Earnshaw said. “And I still feel pretty confident we would have won all of those points. I think Anna beating Olsen at three was pretty important to make that all comfortable.”
From there, NC State needed one of the three three-setters to fall its way and Rajecki came through on court one. The senior split her first two sets — winning the first 6-2 and losing her second 6-3 — but cruised to a quick 6-1 win in the deciding third set to clinch the Pack’s victory.
Both Rencheli and Dittmann’s respective three-setters on courts three and five were left unfinished once Rajecki finished off the 4-1 win.
After putting away the Huskies, NC State is now set for its toughest match so far this season, and likely for the entire season. The Wolfpack will face none other than its most bitter rival, No. 1 UNC-Chapel Hill, in the quarterfinal round of the ITA Indoor Championships.
The Wolfpack had an epic three-match saga with the Heels that defined its 2023 season. But Carolina, the perennial best team in college women’s tennis, beat the Wolfpack in the NCAA Championship Final. Now, the Wolfpack’s long-awaited rematch with the Tar Heels will come a month sooner than when the rivals are slated to play each other in late March.
“The final wasn’t enjoyable in the outcome, but still it was a great college tennis match,” Earnshaw said. “And you just expect hopefully tomorrow is kind of in the same vein. And hopefully we can be a little quicker out of the blocks, and I think we’re going to need to play a better match against UNC, and hopefully if we can do that, we can get through it.”
As evidenced by the rivals’ championship bout in Orlando last season, the bad blood between the Wolfpack and Tar Heels isn’t isolated to the Triangle. This time, the two will square off on the other side of the country in Seattle.
Once again, it’s NC State and UNC, and it’s a matter of repeat or revenge. The Pack’s first serve against the winners of the past four ITA Indoor Championships is set for Saturday, Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
